A fire broke out in one of Rwanda’s largest prisons on Friday morning, leaving seven inmates with minor injuries and destroying property whose value is yet to be established, officials said. 

The cause of the fire at the Gasabo prison in Kimironko which broke out a few minutes past 8am is still unknown. Onlookers, however, said that screams could be heard inside the Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS) facility as prison warders fired shots in the air to prevent inmates from escaping. 

“At this point we don’t know the exact cause of the fire and we are avoiding speculation. Investigations are ongoing to determine what caused the blaze,” the RCS Commissioner General George Rwigamba told journalists. “There are no deaths recorded but seven inmates sustained minor injuries.”

The RCS spokesperson Hillary Sengabo told journalists earlier that a short-circuit is suspected to be behind the fire, given the "ageing electric system" in one of the oldest prisons in the country. 

The prison accommodates approximately 4,500 inmates, mainly genocide suspects serving lengthy sentences. The inferno gutted two eastern sections of the prison covered by tents.

Inmates were moved to one side of the prison as police battled the fire. Top government, police and military officials were present at the scene amid the morning drizzle. 

It took at least two hours to quell the inferno, requiring a joint effort by the Rwanda National Police, the correctional service, Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority and the military. Six fire engines were deployed to contain the fire.  

Inmates in the affected section will be moved to the newly-opened Mageragere correctional facility according to RCS. 

The incident comes three months after a fire gutted a cell at Nyarugenge Prison, also known as 1930, during the Christmas period last year, causing injuries to inmates. Last month, over 3,000 inmates in the facility were moved to Mageragere prison, leaving only female inmates. 

In June 2014, fire also gutted a huge section of Muhanga prison in the southern province, which holds more than 3,000 inmates. 

In July the same year, an inferno at the RCS Rubavu prison in western province claimed the lives of three inmates and injured scores others.

READ: Fire breaks out at Kigali prison