diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1.js
index 7bc4dd4e4d..2e8c283eae 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1.js
@@ -105,13 +105,31 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1 = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
     },
 
     /**
-     * Method: read
+     * APIMethod: read
      * Parse the response from a transaction.  Because WFS is split into
      *     Transaction requests (create, update, and delete) and GetFeature
      *     requests (read), this method handles parsing of both types of
      *     responses.
+     *
+     * Parameters:
+     * data - {String | Document} The WFST document to read
+     * options - {Object} Options for the reader
+     *
+     * Valid options properties:
+     * output - {String} either "features" or "object". The default is
+     *     "features", which means that the method will return an array of
+     *     features. If set to "object", an object with a "features" property
+     *     and other properties read by the parser will be returned.
+     *
+     * Returns:
+     * {Array | Object} Output depending on the output option.
      */
-    read: function(data) {
+    read: function(data, options) {
+        options = options || {};
+        OpenLayers.Util.applyDefaults(options, {
+            output: "features"
+        });
+        
         if(typeof data == "string") { 
             data = OpenLayers.Format.XML.prototype.read.apply(this, [data]);
         }
@@ -122,7 +140,7 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1 = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Format.XML, {
         if(data) {
             this.readNode(data, obj);
         }
-        if(obj.features) {
+        if(obj.features && options.output === "features") {
             obj = obj.features;
         }
         return obj;
diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.js
index 23b446caac..56b215aa6f 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.js
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1_1_0 = OpenLayers.Class(
      * Constructor: OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1_1_0
      * A class for parsing and generating WFS v1.1.0 transactions.
      *
+     * To read additional information like hit count (numberOfFeatures) from
+     * the  FeatureCollection, call the <OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1.read> method
+     * with {output: "object"} as 2nd argument. Note that it is possible to
+     * just request the hit count from a WFS 1.1.0 server with the
+     * resultType="hits" request parameter.
+     *
      * Parameters:
      * options - {Object} Optional object whose properties will be set on the
      *     instance.
@@ -59,6 +65,12 @@ OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1_1_0 = OpenLayers.Class(
      */
     readers: {
         "wfs": OpenLayers.Util.applyDefaults({
+            "FeatureCollection": function(node, obj) {
+                obj.numberOfFeatures = parseInt(node.getAttribute(
+                    "numberOfFeatures"));
+                OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1.prototype.readers["wfs"]["FeatureCollection"].apply(
+                    this, arguments);
+            },
             "TransactionResponse": function(node, obj) {
                 obj.insertIds = [];
                 obj.success = false;
diff --git a/tests/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.html b/tests/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.html
index 78d7fe7bdf..c5ab632c63 100644
--- a/tests/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.html
+++ b/tests/Format/WFST/v1_1_0.html
@@ -22,7 +22,18 @@
         t.eq(result.insertIds[0], "none", "InsertIds read correctly");
         t.eq(result.success, true, "Success read correctly");
     }
-    
+
+    function test_read_hits(t) {
+        t.plan(1);
+        var data = readXML("NumberOfFeatures");
+        var format = new OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1_1_0({
+            featureNS: "http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/mapserver",
+            featureType: "AAA64"
+        });
+        var result = format.read(data, {output: "object"});
+        t.eq(result.numberOfFeatures, 625, "numberOfFeatures of FeatureCollection correctly read");
+    }
+
     function test_write(t) {
 
         var format = new OpenLayers.Format.WFST.v1_1_0({
@@ -70,6 +81,17 @@
 </head>
 <body>
 <div id="map" style="width:512px; height:256px"> </div>
+<div id="NumberOfFeatures"><!--
+<?xml version='1.0' encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
+<wfs:FeatureCollection
+   xmlns:rws="http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/mapserver"
+   xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
+   xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs"
+   xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
+   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+   xsi:schemaLocation="http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/mapserver http://intranet.rijkswaterstaat.nl/services/geoservices/nwb_wegen?SERVICE=WFS&amp;VERSION=1.1.0&amp;REQUEST=DescribeFeatureType&amp;TYPENAME=feature:AAA64&amp;OUTPUTFORMAT=text/xml; subtype=gml/3.1.1  http://www.opengis.net/wfs http://schemas.opengis.net/wfs/1.1.0/wfs.xsd" numberOfFeatures="625">
+</wfs:FeatureCollection>
+--></div>
 <div id="TransactionResponse"><!--
 <wfs:TransactionResponse version="1.1.0" xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc" xmlns:tiger="http://www.census.gov" xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs" xmlns:topp="http://www.openplans.org/topp" xmlns:sf="http://www.openplans.org/spearfish" xmlns:ows="http://www.opengis.net/ows" xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
     <wfs:TransactionSummary>