Exploding pagers kill at least eight, injure thousands in attack on Hezbollah

Thousands reportedly injured in pager explosions in Lebanon and Syria in what appears to be an attack on Hezbollah members on Tuesday Reuters Agency and other news agencies. Lebanon’s Health Minister, Firass Abiad, said at least eight people, including a child, were killed and about 2,800 others were injured, according to CNN.

The explosion came as Hezbollah has been at war with Israel for months, coinciding with Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and a day after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said time was running out for a diplomatic solution with the group. CNN reported that the IDF said it would not comment on the detonation.

Reuters Agency AND Wall Street Journal Anonymous sources were cited as saying the pagers that exploded were part of a new shipment the group had recently received, and that some people felt the devices heat up and then got rid of them before they exploded. We have not seen any reports with confirmed details about how the devices might have been tampered with to explode, or how they were triggered.

Videos of the explosions and their aftermath have already spread widely across news networks and social media (warning: the video below shows people injured in the attacks). One of the videos shows a man looking down to check his pager while paying at a store before it explodes and flies backward. Another surveillance video from the market posted by New York Times shows a man injured when an explosive device in his bag detonated at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time.