Iran accuses Israel of 'mass murder' after pager explosions

AFP , Wednesday 18 Sep 2024

Iran accused Israel on Wednesday of "mass murder" after paging devices belonging to Hezbollah resistance group in Lebanon exploded, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others.

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Relatives mourn Fatima Abdallah, a 10-year-old girl killed after hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon, during her funeral in the village of Saraain in the Bekaa valley on September 18, 2024. AFP

 

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement he "condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime... as an example of mass murder".

Among those wounded in the pager blasts on Tuesday was Iran's ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, with Iranian media reporting he suffered injuries "to the hand and the face."

State television said that Amani was only lightly injured.

The Iranian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had dispatched "rescue teams and eye surgeons" to Lebanon to treat the wounded.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the wave of explosions that killed nine people, including the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, and wounded around 2,800 others.

The blasts came just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the Gaza war to include its fight against Hezbollah along the country's border with Lebanon.

In his statement, Kanani expressed solidarity with the families of those killed and wounded in the explosions including the Iranian ambassador.

"Combating the terrorist acts of the (Israeli) regime and the threats arising from them is an obvious necessity," said Kanani.

"It is necessary for the international community to act quickly in order to counter the impunity of the Zionist criminal authorities."

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