Hezbollah: 20 members dead just hours after walkie-talkie explosions

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The Lebanese Hezbollah group said 20 of its members were killed. A source close to the group told AFP on Thursday that they were killed in walkie-talkie explosions blamed on Israel the previous day.

The group sent out a separate obituary for each of its members between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, saying they were killed “on the way to Jerusalem” – a term Hezbollah uses for fighters killed by Israel.

“The 20 Hezbollah members were killed by walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon on Wednesday,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said that 20 people had been killed and more than 450 injured in a second wave of explosions involving electronic devices in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.

Wednesday's explosions came a day after Hezbollah pagers were simultaneously detonated across Lebanon, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding up to 2,800 others in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.

Israel did not comment on the incidents.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to give his first televised address since the attacks on Thursday afternoon.

aya/dcp