Jakarta – An attack on a village in Sumatra left one man dead and 25 houses burned down, police and reports said Thursday, amid conflicting reports of who was responsible.

Truckloads of migrants arrived at the village of Dalu-Dalu, in Riau province, early Thursday following a row over unused land on a private plantation where they had settled, the Antara news agency said.

A 40-year-old man was killed, 25 houses set on fire and hundreds of villagers fled to safety in a neighbouring village, the news agency said.

But Hasan Basri of the Kampar sub-district police office told AFP he had received a report saying the attack was by people from the plantation estate company.

"A man died from the clash in Dalu-Dalu, but we don't have his identity yet as our officers are still on the scene," Basri said. "The riot control police force, as well as our intelligence officers and the head of the Kampar police have all gone to the village." Basri said the clash started around 2am.

Antara said the migrants, who had settled on the land illegally, objected to the youths from Dalu-Dalu being given permission to use the area for a farming project. The governor of Riau and the heads of the Kampar district and police had gone to the area to try to stem the violence, Antara said.