A security source told Arab News that an altercation between two groups of inmates started at 9 a.m. as they watched television. One group demanded that the sound volume be reduced.

"When the verbal exchange between the inmates developed into a fistfight, women officials at the facility called police to quell the fighting," the source said.

A team of officers comprising patrol police, criminal investigators and security police rushed to the center soon after receiving information about the incident. Security agents questioned the girls to learn the reasons behind the fighting.

Police have transferred the case to the Commission for Investigation and Public Prosecution, which will question the girls involved in the fighting on Wednesday. Arab News tried to contact Noura Al-Asheikh, head of the women's section at the Social Affairs Department in Makkah, but she did not respond.

Earlier this year, a similar incident took place in the center when four inmates and some social workers were injured.

Over 65 security men including 15 women jail guards managed to restore order at the facility as inmates staged a violent protest when the Ministry of Social Affairs rejected their demands to replace the facility's director, some employees and liaison officers.