The exploding pagers that wounded thousands of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon Tuesday were reportedly detonated by a message impersonating the leaders of the recognized terrorist group.
Hezbollah militants all across Lebanon and parts of Syria received a message that appeared to be sent by the group’s leadership to their new pagers at 3:30 p.m. But in reality, the fake message was the trigger that set off explosives hidden in the devices, officials told the New York Times.
The message triggered the batteries inside the pagers to overheat and ignite the explosives, sources told Sky News Arabia.
The pagers — which were allegedly rigged with explosives by the Israeli spy agency Mossad — beeped for several seconds before they exploded, the officials told the outlet.
The exploding beepers killed at least nine people, — eight of whom appeared to be Hezbollah fighters but also an 8-year-old girl — and injured roughly 2,800 people, according to Lebanese officials.
The devices left a trail of small bloody scenes throughout the country as they exploded in people’s pockets, bags, and hands.
Some of the victims lost their hands, had chunks blown out of their thighs or groins and maimed faces, according to photographers on the scene for the Associated Press.
Israel allegedly orchestrated the complicated attack to take out Hezbollah’s central method of communication as the group had switched to pagers over phones to avoid Israeli surveillance at its leader’s order in February.
Mossad allegedly intercepted a shipment of the Taiwanese-made beepers before it reached Lebanon and planted one to two ounces of Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a highly explosive material, next to the battery, along with a remote trigger switch, the Times and Sky News Arabia reported.
The devices were brand new but it’s unclear when they arrived in Lebanon or how long they had been in use.
Israel has refused to comment on the orchestrated attack and whether it was responsible.
With Post wires
