The peacekeeper's patrol was hit by shrapnel from an Israeli round near the disputed Shebaa Farms area, Lebanese police said, amid a series of retaliatory air raids triggered by a Hezbollah bomb attack that killed an Israeli soldier.

Sporadic but often deadly violence has continued across the border between the two countries, which remain technically at a state of war, despite Israel's pullout from south Lebanon almost five years ago.

A spokesman for the UN force in Lebanon said the French officer with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) had been killed while a Swedish observer and their Lebanese driver were wounded.

The spokesman, Milos Srwjer, said the men had come under fire from the Israeli side of the Blue Line that the United Nations drew up to serve as the border between Lebanon and Israel after the Jewish state ended its 22-year occupation in 2000.

He added however that the Israeli fire had been provoked by "shots from the Lebanese side" of the Blue Line.

In Paris, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie "paid hommage to the memory of Major Jean-Louis Valet, a French officer who died while serving to protect the peace in Lebanon, and sent her deep condolences to his family and friends," her office said.

The Israeli army confirmed that one of its troops had been killed in a Hezbollah bomb attack on Israel's northeastern border with Lebanon.

"The officer, a lieutenant and second in command of an infantry unit with the elite Golani regiment, was killed when Hezbollah detonated an explosive charge as he headed to a military position in the area," a spokesman said.

Al-Manar television, the mouthpiece of Hezbollah, reported that one officer was killed and three wounded when "our fighters blew up a very powerful charge in the path of an armoured vehicle near an Israeli position known as Zebdin in the occupied Shebaa Farms."

Al-Manar also said a Hezbollah militant had been killed during a cross-border shootout while Lebanese police reported that a civilian was wounded in a series of retaliatory Israeli air strikes.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman David Saranga confirmed that a UN soldier was killed during an exchange of fire following the Hezbollah blast and that the incident was being investigated.

"It is deplorable that Hezbollah tries to draw attention to (Israel's) northern frontier the day democratic elections are being held," he said, referring to Sunday's vote to choose a new Palestinian leader.

The border area remains tense despite Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon after fighting a bloody guerrilla war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has vowed to continue "resistance" attacks until Israel evacuates Shebaa Farms, an area captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war but claimed by Lebanon with the consent of Damascus.

In December, the Israeli army deployed a radar system in the area capable of detecting infiltrations by unmanned spy planes from Lebanon after Hezbollah flew a drone for about 15 minutes along Israel's northern Mediterranean coast.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has said the Shiite movement possessed drones that can carry explosives to strike targets deep inside Israel if the Jewish state attacks Lebanon.

Israeli air force jets regularly fly over Lebanon.

In July last year, two Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah ambush.

UNTSO became the first peacekeeping mission set up by the United Nations when it was set up in 1948. Fourteen of its observers and 17 soldiers have been killed since its inception.

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