JENIN, March 1: A local West Bank strongman fired a gun near a Palestinian minister's motorcade on Tuesday, wounding no one but stirring fears of civil strife if President Mahmoud Abbas tries to rein in armed groups.

Witnesses said Zakaria al Zubaidi, who heads the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, stormed into the government compound in the town after learning that new Interior Minister Nasser Yousef had arrived without notice.

"Before the truce, you used to coordinate visits with me," witnesses quoted Zubaidi as shouting angrily, referring to the cease fire declared by Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a summit in Egypt last month.

Mr Zubaidi then fired his weapon, hitting no one but Prompting Yousef to order his arrest, witnesses said. Yousef, part of a new, reform-minded cabinet that took office last week, later relented and held private talks with Mr Zubaidi, whose group is part of Mr Abbas's dominant Fatah faction.

Mr Zubaidi later said his differences were not with the Palestinian Authority but with the Jenin security chief, whom he accused of ignoring his group. After the incident, Palestinian officials announced Yousef had fired the Jenin security commander, Fayez Arafat.

"The dismissal is part of security reform. The Zubaidi incident was not the main reason for the decision, rather part of it. The rule of law must be implemented," one of the officials said.

Mahmoud Abbas, elected in January to succeed the late Yasser Arafat, is under pressure from the United States and Israel to rein in armed factions spearheading a four-year-old Palestinian uprising. -Reuters