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Zimbabwe police detained US and British diplomats Thursday in a dramatic confrontation at a roadblock following what the government described as a gathering at the home of an opposition supporter.

The convoy of three vehicles was initially stopped at a checkpoint in the Bindura region before making a getaway and then later pulled over again, US embassy officials said.

"The police forced them (the diplomats) off the road and fortunately we had a good driver," US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee told reporters.

"They spiked our vehicle and slashed the tires. The military came in, war vets came in and they threatened to burn my people," he said, referring to hardline supporters of President Robert Mugabe who is currently in Rome.

"They were finally all released although they badly beat up our local driver. Fortunately all of them are now back."

The Harare government said the diplomats had been addressing a gathering at the home of an opposition party activist.

"The British and American diplomats had gone to a house in Bindura where they addressed a gathering. There was commotion and police were called in," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told AFP.

"When police arrived they fled and then they were stopped at a roadblock on the way.

"When they refused to disembark following orders by the police, police then deflated the tyres of one of the vehicles."

Asked for the identity of the person who lived in the house, Matonga said he was a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

The confrontation came amid signs Zimbabwe authorities were intensifying a crackdown ahead of a June 27 presidential run-off, when Mugabe faces opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Police detained Tsvangirai on Wednesday for nearly nine hours before releasing him without charge.

A spokesman at the US embassy in Harare said that five Americans, four Britons and a number of local staff had been detained in Thursday's incident.

McGee said any dispute with the diplomats should have been taken up with the ministry of foreign affairs but Zimbawe was now a "lawless country".

"The government of Zimbabwe does not abide by its own rules and laws and surely doesn't abide by international rules and laws.

"This government has been involved in a campaign of intimidation against its own citizens and now they are trying to intimidate diplomats, British and American diplomats to keep us from going out in the countryside to witness what they are doing against the people of Zimbabwe."

Matonga said that the Mugabe government was "outraged" by the conduct of the diplomats.

"As government we are outraged by the behaviour of the British and Americans," he said.

"They are trying to provoke us. They want us to play into their hands."

According to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), around 60 of its supporters have been killed by pro-Mugabe militias in the build-up to this month's run-off, when the 84-year-old president is hoping to win a sixth term in office.

The opposition says the violence is intended to frighten off voters after Tsvangirai beat Mugabe into second place in the first round of voting on March 29 but officially fell just short of an outright majority.

Tsvangirai resumed his campaigning on Thursday, the day after his detention, insisting: "Our resolve for a new beginning, and a new Zimbabwe remains unshaken."

McGee said he feared there was "no way" the election would be free and fair in rural areas but said Tsvangirai must still contest the ballot.

"If he doesn't he is going to just hand this election to those folks who may not have the best interests of Zimbabwe in their hearts."

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe uninterrupted since independence from Britain in 1980. Although once seen as a post-colonial model, Zimbabwe's economy has been in meltdown since the president embarked on a land reform programme which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.

The official inflation rate is now the highest in the world at 165,000 percent while some three million of the 13 million population have left the country in a bid to escape mass unemployment and widespread food shortages.