The Israeli shells slammed near the village of El-Qlayleh, located ten kilometres from the border with Israel, causing a panic among local residents who fled the area.

According to a Lebanese army source the rocket platform which was used in launching the rocket into Israeli territories was found in a field near the village of Hiniyeh close to El-Qlayleh.

The source said at least two rockets were fired. While one struck northern Israel, the other blew up in a non-residential area inside Lebanese territory.

Israeli public radio said a woman was lightly injured by flying glass in her home when the rocket landed near the Israeli town of Maalot near the Lebanese border.

"The Israeli army considers this a serious incident and believes it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government and the army to prevent this rocket fire," an Israeli army spokesman said.

In Lebanon, panicked residents of El-Qlayleh, located about 10 kilometers from the border, were fleeing the region where loud explosions could be heard, an AFP correspondent said.

Meanwhile, Lebanese army troops and the United Nations Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), set up checkpoints and were searching identities of passengers passing in cars near the tense areas.

In January, rockets were fired on two occasions from Lebanon into northern Israel. The attacks raised fears that the war in Gaza at the time could spread.

No group claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Sultan Abul Ainein, Secretary-General of the Palestinian group Fatah in Lebanon, said no faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation PLO was connected to Saturday's rocket attack.

A Hezbollah source also denied any involvement in the katyusha launching and expressed surprise about the attack.

The region of El-Qlayleh is largely controlled by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its Amal party ally.

Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 that left more than 1, 200 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians.

The tit-for-tat attacks followed reports about an Israeli leisure boat that drifted into Lebanese sea waters over the night. Israeli military forces searching for the lost boat fired flares over the Lebanese regions over the night. -With Agencies