Indonesian security forces stormed an infamous prison on Bali island Wednesday to regain control after a night of rioting that saw inmates hurl rocks and set fires, police said.

Indonesian policemen outside Kerobokan prison in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on February 22, 2012. , Photo: AFP

Guards had been forced to abandon the overcrowded Kerobokan prison, which holds 1,000 inmates including 12 convicted Australian drug smugglers. Authorities said no foreigners were injured or involved in the trouble.

Some 100 heavily armed police and military stormed the facility at around dawn, firing volleys of rubber bullets, after several attempts at negotiating with the rioting prisoners failed.

"They were forced to open fire and three people were injured in the legs and taken to hospital," Bali deputy police chief Ketut Untung Sayoga told AFP, adding that all the injured were prisoners.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said all 12 Australian prisoners at Kerobokan, including two on death row and six serving life sentences, were safe.

"The wing where the Australians are held is far from the place where we had the trouble. The Australians were not involved in any way," said Bali police spokesman Hariadi, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.

Among the Australians at the jail are convicted drug carrier Schapelle Corby and the group known as the "Bali Nine", who were caught attempting to smuggle drugs from the resort island.

Up to 1,000 armed security forces backed by dozens of armoured vehicles and water cannon were stationed Wednesday morning outside the prison, which is in a suburban area of the Indonesian resort island.

An AFP photographer saw four injured prisoners with wounds to the arms and legs being taken out of the facility on stretchers and driven away in ambulances, under guard by armed and helmeted officers.

Police said they were still investigating the cause of the violence, but local reports said the trouble began when an inmate stabbed another prisoner on Sunday, touching off reprisals that erupted into a full-blown riot.

Prisoners began trashing cells and throwing stones at the guards who were forced to abandon the jail -- built for just 300 inmates but now housing more than three times that many male and female prisoners.

"Late in the evening on Tuesday the prisoners got angry and set fire to one of the offices and began hurling stones at prison staff," Hariadi said.

Australian media reports said that some inmates had gained access to the registration wing of the prison, within metres of the entrance to the facility, where they set offices and furniture alight.

The Australian Associated Press said the inmates were in charge for almost seven hours and that outgoing prison governor Siswanto described the situation at the time as "out of control".

It said that the registration wing, close to the maximum security section where the two of the Bali Nine on death row are housed, had been destroyed.

There have been a number of riots at the jail in recent years.

Source: AFP