NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli security forces killed three Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank early on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in what Army Radio described as a large-scale operation against militants.

The Israeli military did not immediately release details. Army Radio said hundreds of soldiers took part in the pre-dawn raid and that the three Palestinians killed were gunmen who had exchanged fire with the forces.

No armed group immediately claimed the men killed in the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, an area where Israeli forces have mounted frequent raids over the past year.

Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh condemned the Israeli raid.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Alaa Swilam; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher Cushing)