Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles Apple's iPhones, closed a plant in northern China on Monday after about 2,000 workers staged a riot at a company facility. The Taiyuan-based plant was temporarily closed today for investigation, Foxconn said. The company added that a personal dispute between several employees escalated into an incident involving some 2,000 workers at approximately on September 23 in a privately-managed dormitory near its manufacturing facility in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

China's Xinhua news agency reported earlier that some 5,000 police were sent to quash the violence.

Foxconn cited police as saying about 40 people were taken to hospital for medical attention and a number were arrested.

The cause of the dispute is under investigation by local authorities.