Israel’s Mossad spy agency placed explosives in thousands of Hezbollah pagers before they detonated across Lebanon, multiple reports say.
Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 12 people were killed – including two children – and 2,750 are still in hospital after pagers exploded on Tuesday.
A senior Lebanese security source tells Reuters the pagers were brought into the country months ago.
Separately, Israeli and US sources say Israel detonated the pagers earlier than planned, fearing that Hezbollah had become aware of the plan.
Hezbollah used pagers after banning mobile phones earlier this year, saying they were too easy to track.
The pagers seemed to carry a Taiwanese brand – but Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo denies any involvement, saying the pagers were made by a Hungarian firm.