"Preliminary reports indicate that the home of the republic's prime minister, Ibragim Malsagov, was attacked," the official said, adding that no one was killed or injured but that the house in the capital, Nazran, was severely damaged.
The North Caucasus republic's Interior Ministry denied the alleged attack on the prime minister.
The premier's office confirmed that an incident took place, but said it was nowhere near Malsagov's home: "There was no attack on the house, the shooting took place a long way from it," the office said.
A police source in the North Caucasus republic earlier said a "skirmish" took place in the center of Nazran. "Automatic gunfire and grenade explosions were heard in the area. The skirmish began at about 10:30 p.m. Moscow time (7:30 p.m. GMT)," he said.
An officer on duty at Ingushetia's Interior Ministry confirmed earlier on Friday that shots had been fired near the premier's home, but said it was premature to describe it as an attempt on Malsagov's life.
Malsagov was wounded in the summer of 2005, when two radio-controlled explosive devices went off along his motorcade route. The government of the volatile republic said the attack was linked to authorities' crackdown on criminal groups and was an attempt to destabilize the region.
Ingushetia and other republics near Chechnya, which suffered two devastating separatist wars in the 1990s-early 2000s, have been plagued by attacks on police and authorities, as well as militant raids.
January has already seen a series of attacks on police and shootouts with militants in Ingushetia. One police officer was killed by unknown gunmen on Wednesday. On Monday, one civilian was killed and two police officers wounded in a skirmish in the village of Verkhniye Achaluki, where two suspected militants were also injured.
On January 9, gunmen opened automatic gunfire and launched grenades at two police cars with six police officers, killing one senior officer and wounding another from the neighboring region of Rostov.
