Dozens of walkie-talkies explode in Lebanon one day after pager blasts injure thousands, state media reports

Dozens of walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday, a security source told CNN, one day after blasts targeting the pagers of Hezbollah members injured thousands.

Preliminary information suggested that there were between 15 and 20 explosions in southern suburbs of Beirut, and a further 15 to 20 blasts in southern Lebanon, the source said.

At least nine people were killed and more than 300 injured in Wednesday’s wave of explosions, according to the country’s health ministry.

“The Army Command asks citizens not to gather in areas witnessing security incidents to allow the arrival of medical teams,” the Lebanese Army warned citizens in a post on X.

Smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, south of Beirut, on Wednesday.

A witness who was at a Hezbollah funeral in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Wednesday described to CNN the chaos as walkie-talkies appeared to explode at around 5 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) on Wednesday.

The witness, who cannot be named for security reasons, told CNN that a loud bang went off, followed by screaming. They said that the man whose wireless device exploded was covered in blood and his hands had been blown off.

Photographs meanwhile showed walkie-talkie devices that had been ripped apart during the explosions.

Two damaged devices after Wednesday’s explosions.

Wednesday’s blasts come almost exactly 24 hours after the near-simultaneous explosions targeting pagers of the militant group Hezbollah, exposing a massive security breach among its members.

Hezbollah on Tuesday vowed to respond to what it called an Israeli attack, which killed multiple people and injured thousands across Lebanon on Tuesday. A child was among at least nine killed in those blasts, which wounded about 2,800 people, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said.

Speculation has mounted over how low-tech wireless communication devices could have been exploited. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Israel hid explosives inside a batch of pagers ordered from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo and destined for Hezbollah. A switch was embedded to detonate them remotely, it added.

The unprecedented attack – as well as the fresh blasts on Wednesday – risk further escalating tensions in the Middle East already heightened over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

This is a developing story. It will be updated…