Updated

Hundreds of police officers are checking houses in a marijuana-growing village in southern Albania a day after gunmen fatally shot a policeman and wounded two others during a shootout.

Police spokesman Ardi Bita said Thursday 14 out of 21 main suspects have been detained. Police resumed searching houses in the morning "without meeting resistance" in Lazarat, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital, Tirana.

Wednesday's shootout came after police stopped a car transporting weapons and arrested the driver in an operation to find suspects who had shot at policemen stationed in the village overnight.

Lazarat came to prominence last year after a five-day police siege in which special police forces with armored personnel carriers came under intense fire with automatic weapons and rocket launchers from local homes.