Hezbollah fighters targeted: The impact of explosives planted in pagers

In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding thousands more. (Photo/Agencies)

According to security sources, some of the detonations took place after the pagers rang, causing the fighters to put their hands on them or bring them up to their faces to check the screens. (Photo/Agencies)

The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. Details on how the attack was executed are largely uncertain. (Photo/Agencies)

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group's movements. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate. (Photo/Agencies)

Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal. (Photo/Agencies)

News agency Reuters reported that images of the destroyed pagers revealed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with those produced by Gold Apollo. A Lebanese security official said that Hezbollah had placed an order for 5,000 pagers from the Taiwanese company. (Photo/Agencies)

However, Gold Apollo clarified that the pagers involved in the incident were manufactured by a company in Budapest called BAC, which had the right to use company's brand. "The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Taiwan's Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-Kuang. He further said that Gold Apollo was also a victim in this situation. (Photo/Agencies)

Militant group Hezbollah promised to retaliate against Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers across Lebanon. Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the late-afternoon detonation of the pagers - handheld devices that Hezbollah and others in Lebanon used to send messages - as an "Israeli aggression". Hezbollah said Israel would receive "its fair punishment" for the blasts. (Photo/Agencies)

Iran accused Israel on Wednesday of "mass murder" after paging devices belonging to the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah group in Lebanon exploded. Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani said in a statement he "condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime as an example of mass murder". (Photo/Agencies)