HANOI, Vietnam — Villagers near Vietnam’s capital on Saturday released 19 officials they had held hostage for about a week, ending a rare standoff that underscored tensions over land rights in this Communist country.

Thirty-eight police and security officials were captured last weekend in Dong Tam village, 25 miles south of the capital, Hanoi, in the dispute, activists said. The state news media said that 16 of the hostages were later released and that three had escaped.

The remaining 19 were released after a meeting between the villagers and Hanoi’s top local official, Nguyen Duc Chung, the state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre said in an online report. Photos circulating on social media and the websites of state-run newspapers appeared to show hundreds of villagers at the scene.

State media reports said the disputed 145 acres were originally earmarked for a military airport that was never built. The land was transferred in 2015 to Viettel, a military-backed telecommunications company, for a defense-related project, the reports said.