Grapevine

Lebanese people talk about fears after pager and walkie-talkie explosions

Two days of random explosions have made some people nervous, others ditch their walkie-talkies, but some remain defiant.

Beirut, Lebanon – Electronic devices exploded in south Beirut and other parts of Lebanon for a second day on Wednesday, resulting in casualties and fires, a second attack blamed on Israel.

Twenty people were killed and more than 450 wounded in Wednesday’s attack, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health. On Tuesday, thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded, killing 12 people and wounding nearly 3,000.

The two attacks coming so close together has left many in Lebanon worried about their use of electronic devices and the state of the country’s security situation.

The attack allegedly targeted mobile phones, laptops, solar energy cells as well as walkie-talkie radios that were purchased at a similar time – about five months earlier – as the exploding pagers.