An 18-year-old man is under police guard in hospital after a group of people tried to stone him for allegedly raping a woman in Katlehong, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

Captain Mega Ndobe said angry local residents attacked the man early on Wednesday after they apprehended him in his home in Seloma section.

"He allegedly forced his way into the 35-year-old woman's house on Tuesday night, threatened her with a knife and raped her," he said.

Police confiscated five suspected stolen cellphones found in the alleged rapist's house. He was not seriously injured during the attack and would appear in court once discharged from hospital. Nobody had been arrested for the attempting stoning.

Meanwhile, 20 more people were arrested for during an anti-crime operation in Katlehong between Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

27 arrested for various crimes

The arrests, which were made for public drinking and housebreaking ? among other offences ? followed similar anti-crime operations on Monday and Tuesday.

Twenty-seven people were arrested during that operation for crimes ? including attempted rape, hijacking and fraud.

"Some of the people arrested during the operation between 6am on Tuesday and this morning [Wednesday] were caught with dagga, unlicensed firearms and ammunition, and a toy gun," Ndobe said.

Those arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday would appear in the Alberton and Germiston magistrate's courts on Friday.