Hezbollah is hit by a wave of exploding pagers that killed at least 9 people and injured thousands

BEIRUT (AP) — Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

An American official said Israel briefed the United States on Tuesday after the conclusion of the operation, in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious explosions came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

The pagers that blew up were apparently acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members in February to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the AR-924 pagers used by the Hezbollah militant group, but the devices were produced and sold by a company called BAC.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

The explosions came hours after Israel’s internal security agency said it had foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official using a planted explosive device that could be remotely detonated.

The United States “was not aware of this incident in advance” and was not involved, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “At this point, we’re gathering information."

Experts said the pager explosions pointed to a long-planned operation, possibly carried out by infiltrating the supply chain and rigging the devices with explosives before they were delivered to Lebanon.

Whatever the means, it targeted an extraordinary breadth of people with hundreds of small explosions — wherever the pager carrier happened to be — that left some maimed.

One online video showed a man picking through produce at a grocery store when the bag he was carrying at his hip explodes, sending him sprawling to the ground and bystanders running.

At overwhelmed hospitals, wounded were rushed in on stretchers, some with missing hands, faces partly blown away or gaping holes at their hips and legs, according to AP photographers. On a main road in central Beirut, a car door was splattered with blood and the windshield cracked.

Lebanon Health Minister Firas Abiad told Qatar's Al Jazeera network at least nine people were killed, including an 8-year-old girl, and some 2,750 were wounded — 200 of them critically — by the explosions. Most had injuries in the face, hand, or around the abdomen.

It appeared eight of the dead belonged to Hezbollah. The group issued a statement confirming at least two members were killed in the pager bombings. One of them was the son of a Hezbollah member in Parliament, according to the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously. The group later issued announcements that six other members were killed Tuesday, though it did not specify how.

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will “for sure get its just punishment.”

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.

Previously, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track and target them.

Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordnance disposal expert, said videos of the blasts suggested a small explosive charge — as small as a pencil eraser — had been placed into the devices. They would have had to have been rigged prior to delivery, very likely by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, he said.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based senior political risk analyst, said he spoke with Hezbollah members who had examined pagers that failed to explode. What triggered the blasts, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices that caused them to vibrate, forcing the user to click on the buttons to stop the vibration. The combination detonated a small amount of explosives hidden inside and ensured that the user was present when the blast went off, he said.

Israel has a long history of carrying out deadly operations well beyond its borders. This year, separate Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri and a top Hezbollah commander. A mysterious explosion in Iran, also blamed on Israel, killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ supreme leader.

Israel has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby-trapped cellphones and it’s widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran’s nuclear program in 2010.

The pager bombings are likely to stoke Hezbollah's worries about vulnerabilities in security and communications as Israeli officials are threaten to escalate their monthslong conflict. The near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have killed hundreds in Lebanon and several dozen in Israel, and have displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, deplored the attack and warned that it marks “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”

On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal. Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel’s north and that time is running out for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah.

This story has been updated to correct the name of the Hezbollah lawmaker’s son killed by a pager blast.

Associated Press writers Hussein Malla, Hassan Ammar, Fadi Tawil and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Zeke Miller in Washington; and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

A Lebanese Red Cross volunteer collects blood donations for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, at a Red Cross center in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

People donate blood for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, at a Red Cross center, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An ambulance carrying wounded people whose handheld pager exploded arrives outside at the American University hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.(AP Photo)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

An ambulance carries wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Civil Defense first-responder carries a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Votes were being counted Tuesday in the recent election for a largely powerless local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the first since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

Thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled roads and guarded 28 counting centers as officials tallied votes. A final result was expected to be declared later Tuesday by the region’s electoral office.

Nearly 8.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election that began on Sept. 18 and concluded on Oct. 1. The overall turnout was 64% across the three phases, according to official data.

It was first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s long-held semi-autonomy in 2019.

The unprecedented move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along with unelected bureaucrats and security setup. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy amid fears that it would pave way for demographic changes in the region.

The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged.

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Early results may give an indication of the vote's direction. However, exit polls by major television channels in last two days projected the regional National Conference emerging as a single largest party followed by the Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Such mandate is likely to be seen as a referendum against Modi's 2019 move.

The National Conference fought the election in alliance with India’s main opposition Congress party.

Their coalition may still need support of some seats to form the government, that is likely to come from Peoples Democratic Party, another Kashmiri group. Five seats are appointed and 90 elected, so a party or coalition would need at least 48 of the 95 total seats to form a government.

The vote will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a regional legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi’s rule.

However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the assembly as Kashmir will remain a “union territory” — directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament as its main legislator. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India.

The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which the BJP for the first time ruled in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party. But the government collapsed in 2018, after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.

Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

This version has corrected that there are 95 seats, 90 of them elected and five appointed, and 48 would be a majority.

Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

Election officers count votes for the recent election at a counting center in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Election officers count votes for the recent election at a counting center in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Electoral counting officials count postal ballots at a counting centre for the assembly election in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8,2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Election officers count votes for the recent election at a counting center in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Election officers count votes for the recent election at a counting center in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Election officials carry electronic voting machines at a counting center for the recent election in Jammu, in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8,2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

A polling official displays a sealed electronic voting machine to polling agents as they count the votes in the recent election for a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir on the outskirts of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A political party representative watches as polling officials count the votes in the recent election for a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir on the outskirts of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Political party representatives watch as polling officials count the votes in the recent election for a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir on the outskirts of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Political party representatives watch as polling officials count the votes in the recent election for a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir on the outskirts of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Supporters of Indian National Congress and National Conference party celebrate early leads in election outside a counting center on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Supporters of Indian National Congress and National Conference party shout slogans as they celebrate early leads in election outside the counting center on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Political party representatives watch as polling officials count the votes in the recent election for a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir on the outskirts of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Election officers count votes for the recent election at a counting center in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

People queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the final phase of an election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct.1, 2024. (AP Photos/Channi Anand)

An Indian paramilitary soldier guards outside a vote counting center the recent election on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An Indian paramilitary soldier guards outside a vote counting center the recent election on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Indian police guard outside a vote counting center for the recent election on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Media persons wait outside a vote counting center the recent election on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

People queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the third phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photos/Channi Anand)

Kashmiri women queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote during the final phase of an election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, north of Srinagar, Tuesday, Oct.1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Paramilitary soldiers guard as people queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the final phase of an election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, in Jammu, India, Tuesday, Oct.1, 2024. (AP Photos/Channi Anand)