11 killed, 4,000 injured as pagers explode across Lebanon
Hezbollah militias had bought 5,000 pagers from Taiwan recently. They use the device instead of mobiles to prevent tracking by Israelis. It is reported explosives with timer were planted in the pagers and they exploded simultaneously.
BEIRUT, Sept 18: Eleven people were killed and 4,000 injured, 400 of them critically,
when thousands of pagers exploded in Lebanon simultaneously on Tuesday. The
devices were mostly being used by Hezbollah militias instead of mobiles to prevent
tracking by Israelis. Pagers are wireless communication devices, the forerunners
of mobile phone.
Hezbollah lawmaker Lebanese MP Ali Ammar's son was among those killed in the
mass detonation of 1,200 beepers across Lebanon. Iran's ambassador in Lebanon
Mojtaba Amani was wounded.
There was no comment from Israeli military or Government while Hezbollah said
Israel would receive "its fair punishment" for the blasts. The US said it is
not aware of the explosions.
Some flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv have been cancelled as a precautionary
measure.
Massive chaos erupted around Beirut and suburbs where most of the blasts took
place. Bekaa, Nabatieh and Tyre in southern Lebanon were also affected badly.
All these are Hezbollah strongholds.
Lebanese accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of planting explosives inside 5,000
Taiwan-made pagers ordered by the Hezbollah a few months ago. Three gms of explosive
material was implanted next to the battery with a switch to detonate remotely,
it was reported.
Taiwan-based Gold Apollo company said in a statement it did not manufacture
the devices. It said they were made by BAC which has a licence to use its brand.
WHY PAGERS ARE USED: The pagers are used by Hezbollah fighters to evade detection
by Israeli tracking.
A forerunner of the mobile phone, a pager is a portable communicatio device
which was widely used till early 1990s. Pagers were used by professionals and
workers to receive messages. But threre is no two-way communication. A message
is sent via radio waves. The receiver then contacts the caller by the nearest
landphone available. The alert comes via a beep. In a developed version, messages
were also received on screen.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel are waging a war in Gaza since
a Hamas attack on Israel last year. Hamas is supported by Iran-backed Hezbollah
and Yemeni Houthis backed by Iran.
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