RIYADH (Reuters) - Seven inmates died in a fire at a Saudi prison in a minority Shi'ite region, but Shi'ite opposition and government sources gave different accounts on Monday of the incident.

Rasid.com said the seven died after setting fire to mattresses inside cells to protest over conditions at the al-Ahsa prison in the Eastern Province late on Sunday.

Citing medical sources, it said dozens were hospitalized.

Saudi prisons chief Ali al-Harithy was quoted by the official news agency SPA as saying the seven died "because of a dispute between some of them."

He said three security officers and 9 other prisoners had also been taken to hospital. The identities of the dead and the reasons for their incarceration were not known.

Minority Shi'ites often complain of second-class status in Saudi Arabia, an Islamic state that applies an austere version of Sunni Islamic law.

(Reporting by Andrew Hammond)

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