DAMASCUS: A fire sparked during a prison riot in Syria’s northern Kurdish-majority town of Kobani has killed at least seven inmates, state media reported on Saturday.

Violence erupted in the town this week as residents protested over the killing of Sami Shekhmous Hiso, a former Kurdish fighter.

“Seven prisoners have died and dozens were injured, burned or suffocated following a riot” at Kobani prison, state television reported.

It said inmates set fire to the prison building, and the blaze spread to several dormitories.

In January, the Syrian government and the Kurds, who once controlled swathes of north and northeastern Syria, reached an integration agreement following clashes that saw the Kurds lose territory.

Last month, Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said the integration of the Kurds’ civilian and military institutions into the Syrian state was complete, and announced the dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces days later.

The prison riot was the first security incident since the dissolution was announced.

Hiso, also known as Sepan, was reportedly kidnapped before his body was returned with bullet wounds on Thursday in the northeastern Hasakah province.

Hasakah province governor Noureddine Ahmed Eissa condemned “the heinous crime.”

Sipan Hamo, regional assistant defense minister and a former senior Kurdish military official, said a number of people had already been arrested over the case, and urged residents to “exercise patience and restraint.”

Kurds had gathered in several parts of the north and northeast to protest against the killing.

State television said that during the violence on Friday, “outlaws” attacked police cars and the building of the Internal Security Directorate.

Security forces were deployed, it added.

The deployment of forces within the perimeter of Kobani prison led some inmates to fear they would be transferred elsewhere, and gripped by panic they set fire to some dormitories, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Saturday.

It said nine prisoners had died, a toll higher than the one reported by state television.

Kobani carries symbolic value for the Kurds, as it was there that Kurdish fighters pushed back and defeated Daesh group jihadists in 2015.