DEIR ZAHRANI, Lebanon -- Rescue teams on Friday dragged four wounded survivors from the rubble of a south Lebanon house accidentally destroyed in an Israeli air strike that killed seven civilians, including two children.


The rescue early Friday brought the number of people wounded in Thursday's air raid on the town of Deir Zahrani to 17.


Shiite Moslem guerrillas in south Lebanon retaliated by firing five Katyusha rockets just before dawn into Israel's self-proclaimed "security zone" in an occupied border strip. Israeli gunners retaliated by firing 155mm howitzers at positions manned by guerrillas of the Shiite Moslem Hizbollah, or Party of God. Lebanese security sources reported no casualities on either side.


The air strikes heightened tension as U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher prepared to set off on a new Middle East diplomatic shuttle seeking to break a five-month-old deadlock in peace talks between Syria and Israel.


Israel issued a highly unusual apology for the Thursday raid in which a jet fired a missile into a two-story house in Deir Zahrani. The dead included a 5-month-old infant and a 4-year-old child.


Israel said the missile that hit Deir Zahrani was fired by mistake during attacks on "terrorist targets" and extended "apologies for the losses."


Israel has blamed Hizbollah for four bomb attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in Latin America and Britain last month in which 116 people were killed and more than 100 wounded, claiming they were revenge for the June air strike on the training base. It was not clear if Thursday's air raids were retaliation for the July bombings.


The victims in Deir Zahrani, with a Shiite population of 9,000, were buried Friday in a massive funeral staged after the Moslem noon prayers.


The casualties were from three families who lived in the two-story stone house. Rescue squads with flashlights clawed through the rubble all through the night to dig out survivors.


Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and several Cabinet ministers joined the thousands of mourners, who wailed "Allahu akbar!" or "God is Great," as the caskets were carried past the wrecked building.


As the coffins were buried, Nabil Qawook, spokesman for Hizbollah in south Lebanon, said, "This massacre testifies to the dimension of Israeli terrorism which kills international laws and ethics as well as children."


Speaking to reporters after the funeral, Hariri said, "This was a premeditated crime committed by the Israeli leadership. It was clearly a terrorist act designed to terrorize civilians."