Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon fighting

Heavy clashes erupted in southern Lebanon today as Hezbollah TV announced that guerrillas had captured two Israeli soldiers along the border with Israel.

Israeli army officials could not immediately confirm whether soldiers had been captured, but said they had “serious concern” about the claim.

Israeli aircraft struck roads, bridges and Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security officials said.

The air raids apparently were to block any escape route for the guerrillas who may be taking the captured Israeli soldiers to areas further removed from the border in order to prevent an Israeli rescue mission.

The Israeli army said the strikes followed Lebanese guerrilla rocket attacks on northern Israeli communities.

Israeli tanks were also firing artillery rounds at southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said. Medics said four Israelis were wounded by the rocket fire on the western Galilee.

A Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon said the guerillas were “retaliating” after Israeli forces shelled several villages near the border. There were no any immediate reports of casualties.

Witnesses in southern Lebanon said the bombings were still continuing one hour after the clash began.

Al-Manar, the TV station of the Hezbollah guerrilla group, reported that Israeli artillery was pounding the fringes of the villages of Aita el-Shaab, Ramieh and Yaroun in the hills east of the coastal border port of Naqoura.

Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas occasionally clash along the border in southern Lebanon.

The latest flare-up came as Israel’s continued its two-week-old offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to try to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

The clashes came after Israel’s air force dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a residential building in Gaza, killing at least six people, including two children. The target of the air strike had been top Hamas militants meeting in the building, but Hamas said its top fugitive got away.

Lebanese guerrillas who attacked Israel’s northern border will pay a “heavy price” for their actions, said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Olmert spoke after the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah said it kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack. Arab satellite TV stations also reported that three Israeli soldiers were killed in the exchange. The Israeli army confirmed casualties among the troops, but would not say whether soldiers had been killed.

“These are difficult days for the state of Israel and its citizens,” Olmert said during a reception for the visiting Japanese prime minister.

“There are people ... who are trying to test our resolve,” he said. “They will fail and they will pay a heavy price for their actions.”

Olmert convened an emergency Cabinet meeting for later today.

Israel’s military, meanwhile, ordered residents of Israeli towns along the northern border to seek cover in underground bombshelters.