Eight dead, 2750 hurt as pagers explode across Lebanon

Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the pager blasts and said it would receive "its fair punishment".

The Israeli military declined to comment on Reuters enquiries about the detonations.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza war erupted last October, in the worst such escalation in years.

Hezbollah confirmed in a statement the deaths of at least three people, including two of its fighters.

The third person killed was a girl, it said, adding that an investigation was being conducted into the causes of the blasts.

Video reportedly showing device exploding in a bag- — Maha Yahya (@mahamyahya) #Lebanon #Israel pic.twitter.com/UHUiGklUy6September 17, 2024

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was not hurt in the explosions, the group said.

The wave of explosions lasted about an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 3.45pm local time.

It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.

The Lebanese foreign ministry described the explosions as a "dangerous and deliberate Israeli escalation" which it said had been "accompanied by Israeli threats to expand the war towards Lebanon on a large scale".

Lebanon's Health Ministry has called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients. (AP PHOTO)

Lebanese internal security forces said a number of wireless communication devices were detonated across Lebanon, especially in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said 2750 people had been wounded in the explosions, 200 of them critically.

Many of those hurt included Hezbollah fighters who are the sons of top officials from the armed group, two security sources told Reuters.

One of the fighters killed was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, they said

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, suffered a "superficial injury" in a pager explosion and is currently under observation in hospital, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

There was no word from the Israeli government on the explosions.

After Tuesday's blasts, a Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic.

A security source said that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.

At Mt Lebanon hospital, a Reuters reporter saw motorcycles rushing to the emergency room, where people with their hands bloodied were screaming in pain.

The head of the Nabatieh public hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that about 40 wounded people were being treated at his facility.

The wounds included injuries to the face, eyes and limbs.

Groups of people huddled at the entrance of buildings to check on people they knew who may have been wounded, the Reuters journalist said.

Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding.

In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out someone standing at a fruit stand at a market area.

Lebanon's crisis operations centre, which is run by the health ministry, asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of wounded coming in for urgent care.

It said health care workers should not use pagers.

The health ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients.

The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 50 ambulances and 300 emergency medical staff were dispatched to help victims.

with AP