Reuters: Israel 'planted small amount of explosives inside 5,000 pagers'

A victim of pager explosion on a stretcher outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center yesterday. Reuters photo via BBC News

Reuters news agency reports that Israel's Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by Lebanese group Hezbollah - months before Tuesday's detonations, citing a senior Lebanese security source and another source.

Reuters also adds that the plot appears to have been many months in the making, citing several sources.

The attack targeted Hezbollah and has left hospitals in Lebanon overwhelmed – some victims have been blinded, while others have needed amputations.

BBC reports: Nine people, including a child, were killed as handheld pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon.

Hospitals were inundated with the wounded, with health authorities saying at least 2,800 other people were injured - 200 of them in a critical condition.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said the pagers belonged “to employees of various Hezbollah units and institutions” and confirmed the deaths of eight of its fighters.

The group has blamed Israel, as has Lebanon's prime minister. The Israeli military have declined to comment.- BBC News