HANOI, Vietnam - The Vietnamese government says seven people have been killed in a shootout between Chinese migrants and Vietnamese border guards at a crossing in the north of the country.

The government in the province of Quang Ninh says Vietnamese authorities early Friday detained a group of 16 Chinese including 10 men, four women and two children after they illegally entered the country.

It says they were being taken to the border to be returned to China when one of them seized a gun from a guard, killing one of them.

Vietnamese guards responded and an ensuing standoff and firefight left one other guard and five Chinese dead.

The government didn't say whether the Chinese dead included children and women.