Three killed, hundreds of Hezbollah members injured as pagers explode

Beirut, Sep 17 (IANS) Three people have been killed and hundreds of Hezbollah members injured as the pagers that they were using to communicate exploded across the country, the Lebanese media reported on Tuesday evening.

Lebanon's Al-Jadeed TV channel accused the Israeli military of targeting the batteries of these pagers, leading to the explosions, adding that the injured were being transported to hospitals in Lebanon's capital Beirut and Dahieh in its southern suburbs.

It mentioned that Hezbollah's competent agencies are currently conducting a "wide-ranging security and scientific investigation" to determine the reasons that led to these simultaneous explosions.

Israeli multi-language online newspaper Times of Israel quoted a Reuters report, saying that a prominent Hezbollah member is one of the major casualties of the pager explosions.

"Separately, a young girl was killed in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek District, according to Lebanese media," it said.

It was also reported that top Hezbollah leaders and their advisors were injured in the detonation of hundreds of pagers in Lebanon.