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Nine dead in new wave of Lebanon device blasts: ministry

Nine people were killed and over 300 wounded Wednesday when walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, the government said, a day after pagers used by Hezbollah blew up, killing 12 and wounding up to 2,800.

18 September 2024, MVT 21:15
Mourners carry the coffins of people killed after hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon the previous day, during a funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 18, 2024. Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 17, killing at least nine people and wounding around 2,800 in blasts the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
18 September 2024, MVT 21:15

Nine people were killed and over 300 wounded Wednesday when walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, the government said, a day after pagers used by Hezbollah blew up, killing 12 and wounding up to 2,800.

The Iran-backed group blamed Israel for the first wave of blasts on Tuesday, vowing revenge and stoking fears of all-out war in the region.

"The new wave of walkie-talkie explosions... killed nine people and wounded more than 300," the health ministry said in a statement.

A source close to the Iran-backed group said walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in its Beirut stronghold during the funerals of Hezbollah members killed in Tuesday's blasts.

"A number of walkie-talkies exploded in Beirut's southern suburbs," the source said, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers confirming devices had exploded inside two cars in the area.

The explosions caused panic, according to an AFP photographer covering the funerals.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "pagers" and "devices" had also exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south, with AFP correspondents hearing explosions in those regions.

A hospital source in the eastern city of Baalbek told AFP 25 people had been wounded after walkie-talkies exploded.

© Agence France-Presse

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