Lebanon hit by second wave of tech explosions

Thousands of hand-held communications devices exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple media reports.

Explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as the cities of Nabatieh, Tyre and Saida in southern Lebanon, The Guardian reported from the Lebanese capital. Nine people have been killed and over 300 injured, the Lebanese health ministry said Wednesday afternoon.

The explosions appear to be the second part of an of an operation which began Tuesday afternoon with the explosions of Hezbollah pager devices, which killed at least 12 people and injured nearly 3,000.

Earlier Wednesday, the Hungarian government denied the exploding pagers had ever been in Hungary, after a Taiwanese company accused the Budapest-based firm BAC Consulting of producing the devices.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday condemned the attacks, saying that they had caused “heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians.”

This story has been updated.

Emilia Möbius contributed reporting.