Jerusalem, Aug 7 (IANS): Israel said its troops have killed three armed Palestinians in the occupied West Bank while they were on their way to carry out an attack against Israelis.

According to a statement released by the Israeli army, soldiers and agents with the Shin Bet internal security agency "thwarted a terror cell" near Jenin in the northern West Bank on Sunday. An M16 rifle was found in the car, Xinhua news agency reported.

The head of the group, identified as 26-year-old Naif Abu Tsuik from the Jenin refugee camp, was "a leading military operative" and involved in "military actions against Israeli security forces and advancing military activities directed by terrorists in the Gaza Strip", said the statement.

Palestinian eyewitnesses in Jenin said the militants were targetted by intensive gunfire from a special Israeli armed force while they were driving south of the city.

They accused the Israeli soldiers of preventing ambulances from reaching the militants, resulting in their deaths at the scene, and of taking their bodies away.

The killing comes about a month after Israel carried out its largest military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in more than 20 years, killing at least 12 Palestinians.