Day after, walkie-talkies explode in Lebanon; 14 killed, over 450 injured

Explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices, Hezbollah officials and state media said on Wednesday.

Editorial: Exploding pagers

Walkie-talkies and even solar equipment were targeted a day after hundreds of pagers blew up, they said. At least 14 persons were killed and 450 were wounded, the Health Ministry said.

Several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before. An eyewitness in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them.

A Hezbollah official said walkie-talkies used by the group exploded. Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar energy systems exploded in houses in several areas of Beirut and in southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl. The new blasts hit a country still thrown into confusion and anger after Tuesday’s pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members that caused civilian casualties too. At least 12 persons were killed and some 2,800 wounded as hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated.