Sunday, August 6, 2006. 8:36pm (AEST)

HEZBOLLAH ROCKET STRIKE KILLS ISRAELI SOLDIERS

At least 10 Israeli soldiers have died in a rocket attack by Hezbollah on northern Israel, according to medics and media reports.

Medics say at least 10 people died when a Hezbollah rocket struck a residential building in the northern Israeli village of Kfar Giladi.

The Israeli army says all of those killed in the attack were reserve soldiers, but it has not confirmed numbers.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said another nine people were wounded, four critically.

The attack is the deadliest Hezbollah rocket strike since war with Israel erupted on July 12 after the guerrillas abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Other rockets landed around the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, officials said.

Fighting

Three Chinese UN peacekeepers have been wounded in an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, a UN spokesman says.

"They were wounded in an exchange of fire in the area of their position" near the borders with Israel, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Shiite militant group says its guerillas attacked a concentration of Israeli military vehicles in Wadi Honeen on the border and an armoured Israeli unit trying to advance towards Adayseh village, killing or wounding several soldiers.

The guerrillas also ambushed an Israeli force trying to advance north near Biyada frontier village, it said.

The group said two tanks and two bulldozers were destroyed in Adayseh and two tanks in Biyada.

Israeli warplanes have launched scores of strikes on large swaths of south Lebanon, killing at least eight civilians, security sources and witnesses say.

Artillery on the Israeli side of the border has pounded border towns and villages.

At least 10,000 Israeli troops are inside Lebanon trying to dislodge Hezbollah fighters from the border area and stop them firing rockets into Israel.

False alarm

Meanwhile, a suspicious package caused a brief scare at the Israeli Prime Minister's office but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Security officials initially suspected a bag brought into the office might have contained a bomb, but officials later said the suspicions were unfounded.

Israel has been on alert since the conflict with Lebanon broke out more than three weeks ago.