Blast rocks Hezbollah leader’s house in Lebanon

An explosion rocked the house of a Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon late on Monday amid conflicting reports of casualties.

A member of the group was seriously wounded when a rocket he found near his home and was trying to defuse exploded, Al Arabiya correspondent Adnan Ghamlouch reported, citing Hezbollah sources.

The 41-year-old Hezbollah leader was identified as Abdel Nasser Issa, from the village of Tayr Felsay, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of the southern coastal city of Tyre

But other sources said two people were killed and two others wounded in the blast, according to Ghamlouch.

Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim al-Moussawi told Reuters one person was wounded and the reason for the blast was under investigation.

Reuters reported earler that five people killed in the explosion, which took place in the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Filsi on the southern bank of the Litani River.

Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 that left much of southern Lebanon in ruins. The region is still littered with unexploded ordnance.

The Israeli army said in a statement the explosion "proves again the presence of weapons forbidden in southern Liban" under U.N. Resolution 1701.

"The Israeli army has asked the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to launch an investigation," the statement said.