RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Police traded gunfire with unknown assailants at the Palestinian Authority prime minister's compound in Ramallah on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Premier Salam Fayyad was away touring the southern West Bank, near Hebron, at the time.

The exchange of gunfire in the West Bank city lasted around a minute, several witnesses confirmed, and the sound of ambulances could be heard shortly thereafter.

Fighting had subsided by the time special forces arrived, a few minutes after the incident began. The police searched and frisked people, apparently looking for weapons.

A security official told Ma'an that a police officer guarding the building accidentally discharged his weapon and denied there had been an exchange of fire.

The Palestinian Authority has launched a security crackdown in the West Bank in recent weeks, arresting scores of suspects in a security sweep that has prompted some anger at President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah-led government.