At least eight inmates were killed and 12 others injured during a prison riot in Afghanistan's Herat province, officials said on Thursday.

The riot took place at Block 5 of the Herat Prison on Wednesday evening after police began clearing some partitions created by the inmates, TOLO News quoted Mohammad Rafiq Shirzai, a spokesman for the provincial public health directorate, as saying.

The wounded were taken to Herat hospital, he said.

Sources said the prisoners torched Block 5 and that the riot continued until midnight..