JENIN, West Bank, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Armed clashes broke out between Palestinian militants and an Israeli military force in the northern West Bank city of Jenin late on Wednesday, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said.

Palestinian sources told Xinhua that the clashes erupted when an Israeli special force unit infiltrated the Wadi Burqin neighborhood of Jenin and clashed with an armed group before a large force of the Israeli army stormed the area.

The sources added that the Israeli force surrounded a house of a Palestinian militant named Naser Jarrar in the neighborhood.

According to Palestinian and Israeli social media, three Palestinian militants were killed and two Israeli soldiers injured.

Israeli sources, meanwhile, said that an exchange of gunfire broke out with a Palestinian militant group while Israeli soldiers were conducting military operations in the area.

The sources said that the force was on its way to arrest a Hamas military cell that was linked to the killing of an Israeli rabbi on Jan. 9 near the Palestinian town of Nablus and fled to Jenin after the attack.

The sources added that another Israeli military force, flanked by a fleet of vehicles, raided the Haifa station for fuel and arrested two young men working there. They also confiscated a number of cameras inside.