Five Indonesian police officers and a prisoner were killed in clashes at a high security jail that saw Islamist inmates take an officer hostage, authorities said yesterday, with negotiations underway to secure his release.

The deadly riot broke out late Tuesday at the facility inside the Mobile Police Brigade headquarters in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta.

It comes several days after the arrest of three terror suspects accused of plotting to attack the police headquarters and other facilities in the same area.

"There have been six fatalities -- five of our comrades are dead and one of them also (died)," said national police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal.

"One of our officers is still being held hostage. To prevent things from getting worse, we're going to keep negotiating so we don't have to go to the last resort," he added, without elaborating.

A dispute broke out after several prisoners demanded that they be given food sent to them by their families and managed to grab some of their jailers' firearms, authorities said, adding that the secure facility was on lockdown.