Detonated the pagers in Lebanon

Detonated the pagers
Pagers explode in Lebanon – at least eight dead and 2,750 injured

A large number of people in Lebanon have been injured in connection with people's pagers exploding, several media reports.

The country's Ministry of Health states that at least 2,750 people have been injured across the country, eight people are dead.

- More than 200 people are seriously injured, says Health Minister Firass Abiad at a press conference.

Among the injured are several Hezbollah members and Iran's ambassador to the country.

The public is urged not to use wireless electronic devices, writes NBC News. According to the Financial Times, Hezbollah uses low-tech devices, such as pagers, to avoid surveillance.

Hezbollah claims that Israel is behind the explosions. Israel has not commented on the accusation.

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Hezbollah singles out Israel: "Shall receive a just punishment"

The Lebanese Iran-backed militia Hezbollah points to Israel as responsible for the detonated pagers around the country. This is stated by Hezbollah in a statement, according to several news agencies.

Israel will receive a "just punishment", writes the militia.

"We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression," it says.

More than 2,750 people have been injured and eight have died after pagers detonated on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Israel and Hezbollah have been shelling each other almost daily since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel last October. Israel has not commented on the events.

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The hospitals are filled with injured: "There is no room"

Lebanon's Ministry of Health has called on the country's hospitals to go into emergency mode due to the large number of injured in connection with people's pagers that began to explode on Tuesday, AP reports.

Witnesses Al Jazeera spoke to say hospitals are starting to fill up.

- There is no room at the hospital. There are more than 400 people there, their pagers exploded, says a woman in the capital Beirut.

Exactly how many have been injured has not yet been determined. According to Reuters, it is about more than 1,000 people. Several hundred of them are said to belong to the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

A source within the militia states that the ten-year-old daughter of one of the group's members has died in a pager explosion.

Hezbollah uses pagers to avoid surveillance. They started exploding on Tuesday afternoon.

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Reactions to the detonations
Expert: Reminds me of something out of a James Bond movie

The exploding pagers in Lebanon bring to mind a James Bond film, says Middle East expert Anders Persson to DN.

- I cannot recall any similar event anywhere in the world, whether in wartime or in peacetime, says the professor at Linnaeus University.

The attack appears to have been aimed at Hezbollah, which uses pagers to avoid interception. Defense University professor Hans Liwång tells TT that the greatest damage to the militia is psychological.

- It is perhaps more important than achieving physical damage: to create doubt within the organization, he says.

IT expert Marcus Murray tells TV4 Nyheterna that it may have been the pagers' lithium batteries that exploded. Hans Liwång, on the other hand, believes that the batteries are too small to cause much damage.

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SVT's reporter: "Chaos and panic on the streets of Beirut"

SVT's freelance reporter Lina Malers testifies to the chaos and panic on the streets of Beirut after pagers exploded all over Lebanon.

- There are ambulances everywhere on their way to the hospitals, I hear sirens all the time from the window, she says in SVT's live broadcast.

According to Lebanon's Ministry of Health, 2,750 people have been injured and eight killed in the detonations. Members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia are among the wounded and killed.

Malers tells SVT that video clips of people "whose entire body parts have been blown off" are circulating.

It is unclear what caused the detonations, but Hezbollah has singled out Israel as responsible. Israel has not commented.