Police detained a village leader in northern China after he burnt government offices to the ground in a protest against corruption, leaving two people seriously injured, a rights group said.

Gao Jinhe, head of Beitai village in Hebei province, confronted local authorities in Chengde city on Sunday over "corruption and abuse of power", according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

After getting into a row with officials, he poured flammable liquid into the complex and set it alight, starting a blaze that destroyed more than 20 offices, the rights group said in a statement released late Monday.

Two men suffered serious burns and were in a critical condition in hospital. Gao, who was also injured in the blaze, was taken away by police and his whereabouts are unknown, the group said.

Local authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bishop regrets China silence over missing clerics
Vatican City (AFP) Jan 17, 2012 - A Chinese archbishop on Tuesday called on Beijing to break its silence about a number of clerics who have disappeared, including three bishops, saying their plight was damaging its reputation.

"The Chinese government's official response is always: 'We do not know', and that is the response that the Holy See has received several times," Savio Hon Tai-fai, the number two of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, or Propaganda Fide, told the Catholic news agency Asia News.

Asia News said it had sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao asking for three Chinese bishops, two of them of an advanced age who went missing about 15 years ago, and six priests to be freed.

Archbishop Hon said the Holy See had made requests for their release through two channels -- friends who are not necessarily Catholic and foreign diplomats.

"The authorities should try to solve this problem, not only because of the difficulties that result in the Christian community, but also for the problems it causes the Chinese nation," he added.

"The news of arrests, disappearances, detention in forced labour camps or house arrest of bishops or priests, is quite damaging for China.

"If these people have done something wrong, please send them to court, not to prison or isolation. This mode does not solve any problems and damages Chinas international image."

The Asia News agency is part of the independent Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions in Rome.

The Vatican has very difficult relations with China, which only recognises a state-sanctioned Catholic Church, and Catholics are increasingly caught between showing allegiance to the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association or to the pope as part of an "underground" Church considered illegal by Beijing.

While official statistics put the number of Catholics in China at 5.7 million, independent sources say it is closer to 12 million.

The Vatican has not had formal diplomatic ties with the Communist regime in Beijing since 1951 and instead recognises its rival in Taiwan.