NICOSIA, CYPRUS - Foreign detainees torched mattresses and damaged cells in a wing of Cyprus's prison compound in the capital Nicosia on Thursday, police said.

Witnesses saw riot police and the fire brigade enter the compound, which straddles the "green line" splitting the ethnically-partitioned city. Plumes of smoke were seen coming from the area.

"The situation is now fully under control," a police spokesman told Reuters.

A prisons official said the disturbances occurred in a detention wing under police jurisdiction, separate to the main prison blocks.

"About 60 foreigners were involved, they were complaining about the long period of their detention. They broke items and set some things on fire," the spokesman said.

Prisoners in the detention centre are normally people in custody awaiting trial.

Six people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, he said.