Rockets fired from south east Lebanon struck northern Israel this morning, the second such attack in less than a week, raising tensions further along the volatile frontier.

Up to five Katyusha rockets were fired from a forested valley near the village of Hebbariyah in south Lebanon at around 8.30am with three of them exploding in an open area 10 miles to the southwest near Kiryat Shemona in northern Israel.

No casualties nor damage were reported, although Israeli doctors said two women were treated for shock. Two or three more rockets reportedly landed short of the border near the Lebanese village of Meri.

There was no claim of responsibility for the barrage which bore the hallmarks of an anonymous rocket attack last week in which two Israelis were lightly wounded in Nahariyah on the Mediterranean coast.

Israeli artillery struck back at the source of rocket fire with eight rounds exploding in the valleys near Hebbariyah and Kfar Hamam villages. Israeli jets patrolled the skies over southern Lebanon all morning.

Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers were placed on alert and carried out searches of the area from where the rockets were fired. Three more Katyusha rockets were discovered in the same area primed for launch and attached to a timer.

The Lebanese government denounced the attack, saying that it risked igniting a war with Israel.

"This gives Israel an excuse to attack Lebanon," said Tarek Mitri, the information minister. "Someone is trying to drag Lebanon into a conflict ands is moving rockets from one area to another."

The Lebanese army said it was carrying out an investigation along with the UN peacekeeping force known as Unifil, and warned against using south Lebanon as a "base to send messages and convey useless positions that would only benefit the Israeli enemy".

Before the 2006 war with Israel, the militant Shia Hezbollah manned bunkers and rocket-firing platforms in a sealed-off military zone among the densely wooded valleys south of Hebbariyah.

The facilities were abandoned at the end of the war and are inspected occasionally by Unifil and Lebanese troops. On Friday, a Unifil patrol discovered an old stockpile of Katyusha rockets dating from before the 2006 war in a small bunker in a nearby valley. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, although it had denied involvement in last week's rocket attack.

Speaking on Lebanon's OTV television, Nawaf Mussawi, a senior Hezbollah official, said that it was the responsibility of the Lebanese authorities to trace the perpetrators.

"We reassure all Lebanese that we are ready for war with Israel at any time," he said.

Hezbollah so far has confined its opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza to demonstrations and speeches. Security sources in south Lebanon doubted that Hezbollah had a direct role in the attack, adding that the likely culprits were militants from the Fajr Forces, a recently resurrected Sunni resistance group allied to Hezbollah which has a presence in Hebbariyah.

Schools were closed in south east Lebanon and nervous villagers prepared to flee the area fearing further Israeli reprisals.

"People are very scared and some are making plans to leave for Beirut if they can," said a resident of Rashaya Foukhar, a Christian village close to the site of the rocket launch.

In the Shia-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold, which was heavily bombed by Israel in the 2006 war, some anxious residents have begun looking into renting homes outside the city as a precaution.

"I do not want to be here if there is going to be another war with Israel," said Rima Salameh, a 34-year-old mother.

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