Nine killed, 300 injured in new wave of explosions in walkie-talkies, solar panels in Lebanon

A Lebanese army soldier stands guard near fire trucks at the scene. Pic/AFP

A second wave of Lebanon device explosions killed at least nine people and injured over 300. The explosions happened in walkie-talkies and home solar energy systems, the officials said, reported the AP.

According to the AFP, a source close to Hezbollah said walkie-talkies used by its members blew up in its Beirut stronghold, with state media reporting similar blasts in south and east Lebanon.

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The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah.

AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah militants in south Beirut on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the AP, Lebanon's official news agency reported that home solar energy systems also exploded in several areas of Beirut.

The fresh wave of explosions came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel, as per the AFP.

There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday's attacks had announced it was broadening the aims its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to include its fight against the Palestinian group's ally Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said Israel was "fully responsible for this criminal aggression" and reiterated it would avenge the attack, while vowing to continue its fight against Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.

Cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces were "ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre," Hezbollah said.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned the "blatant assault on Lebanon's sovereignty and security" was a dangerous development that could "signal a wider war".

The influx of so many casualties all at once overwhelmed hospitals in Hezbollah strongholds, according to the AFP.

At a Beirut hospital, doctor Joelle Khadra said "the injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes -- some people lost their sight."

A doctor at another Beirut hospital, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said he had worked through the night and that the injuries were "out of this world -- never seen anything like it", the AFP reported.

(with AFP and AP inputs)