More blasts heard in Middle East after 12 killed by exploding pagers(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Lebanon explosions: Hezbollah walkie talkies 'explode' day after 12 killed by destroyed pagers

Hezbollah members and a young girl were among those who died with Iran’s ambassador also injured, according to reports. As many as 2,750 people were wounded – 200 of them critically – and 12 killed

by · The Mirror

More blasts reportedly rang out in Beirut today after 12 people were killed when the pagers exploded across the country yesterday.

Yesterday, almost 3,000 people were injured when hundreds of pagers exploded across Lebanon and in parts of Syria. Hezbollah members and a young girl were among those who died with Iran’s ambassador also injured, according to reports. As many as 2,750 people were wounded – 200 of them critically. The death toll was recorded as nine yesterday, but by today it had risen to 12.

Hundreds of the devices exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria, AP reported officials said. The exploded pagers were newly-acquired by Hezbollah after the group's leader ordered members to stop using mobiles – warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence.

Today, reports from the BBC claimed that another wave of explosions had rocked the country, affecting "communications devices" used by the Hezbollah militia. Eyewitnesses reported seeing "walkie talkies" and hand-held radios detonating during a funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh. The town is a known stronghold of Hezbollah.

A man donating blood in Saida( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

The funeral was for four victims of yesterday's explosion, including a young boy and the son of a Hezbollah MP. Local media said that blasts had also rocked homes across Beirut's southern suburbs, and other parts of southern Lebanon. Several victims had been taken to hospital in Ballbek. A reporter for the National News Agency said two people had been injured when a device exploded in Bekaa, and another near a cemetery in the same region.

Lebanon's health ministry announced that more than 100 people were wounded in the latest wave of blasts. Three people were killed by "exploding devices", according to an initial death toll released by Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

This is the moment pagers exploded in a supermarket and left hundreds of Hezbollah members injured( Image: X)

Yesterday, several victims sustained severe injuries to the face, with doctors forced to carry out horrific surgeries in which they had to cut out their eyeballs. Others had their faces spared, but had their hands blasted off, or were left with holes in their abdomen when the pager blew up on thier hip.

Speaking to the BBC, opthalmologist Professor Elias Warrak, who works at Beirut's Mount Lebanon University Hospital, told the BBC it was the first time he had to remove so many eyes throughout his 25 years practicing.

Many of the victims were young men in their twenties, according to one doctor( Image: AP)

"Most of the patients were young men in their twenties and in some cases I had to remove both eyes," he said.

Yesterday, a western Intelligence source claimed the IDF has leaked the exploded pagers were delivered to Hezbollah three months ago. Amid rising tensions across the Lebanon border, officials pointed the finger at Israel for what seemed to be a sophisticated, remote attack.

A file image of an Apollo pager, similar to the ones that exploded( Image: Balkis Press/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)

The Israeli military declined to comment. Near-daily clashes between Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – an ally of Hamas – and Israel have been taking place for over 11 months against the backdrop of war in Gaza.

A Hezbollah official told how the new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up before exploding, killing at least two of its members and wounding others, AP reported. A young girl was reportedly among those killed, Hezbollah said. Her age was not immediately clear with reports saying she was eight or 10.