BEIJING (AP) — Eight people were killed in a clash between construction workers and villagers in China’s southwestern region of Yunnan, authorities said Wednesday, as land disputes grew more violent.

The Tuesday clash on the construction site for a warehouse and logistics center in Jinning county also left 18 people injured, the local government said in an online statement.

It said six construction workers and two villagers were killed.

The official statement did not give a reason for the conflict, but land disputes are common in China where villagers often believe their lands have been unfairly seized for the benefit of developers.

The Shanghai-based state-run media outlet The Paper said the villagers had complained about inadequate compensations for their land expropriated for the project. The Paper said there had been several clashes between villagers and the construction crew before the conflict turned deadly.

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