Beirut: Multiple explosions went off on Wednesday at the site of a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before. According to multiple media reports, the latest explosion took place in hand-held radios (walkie-talkies) used by Hezbollah. At least three people were killed and over 100 were reportedly injured in the explosion.
According to the sources of news agency Reuters, the walkie-talkies which went off on Wednesday were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought. Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by news agency Reuters showed an inside panel labelled "ICOM" and "made in Japan."
ICOM- Japan-based company manufactured the walkie-talkie: Report
According to its website, ICOM is a Japan-based radio communications and telephone company. The company has said that production of several models of the ICOM hand-held radio has been discontinued, including the IC-V82, which appeared to closely match those in images from Lebanon on Wednesday and which was phased out in 2014.
It is worth mentioning Israel's spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil. The group planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
The death toll from Tuesday's blasts rose to 12, including two children, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday. Tuesday's attack wounded nearly 3,000 people, including many of the militant group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.
Frontline workers described hellish scenes: victims of thousands of small explosions linked to pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah rushed into hospitals, some with organs protruding, others with faces missing eyes or hands missing fingers. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an independent investigation into the events surrounding exploding pagers.
A Taiwanese pager maker denied that it had produced the pager devices. Gold Apollo said the devices were made under licence by a company called BAC, based in Hungary's capital Budapest.
(With inputs from agencies)
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