Batteries of Lebanon walkie-talkies contained PETN explosive - Lebanese source (updated)
20/09/2024 11:51
(Adds background in paragraphs 3-4, details from company in
paragraphs 5-6, details from source in paragraph 7)
BEIRUT, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The batteries of the
walkie-talkies used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that blew
up this week were laced with a highly explosive compound known
as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device's components
told Reuters.
The way the explosive material was integrated into the
battery pack made it extremely difficult to detect, the source
said.
Hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group exploded on
Wednesday, a day after thousands of Hezbollah's pagers detonated
across the group's strongholds in Lebanon.
Pictures of the walkie-talkies that had exploded showed
labels reading "ICOM" and "made in Japan". Icom 6820.T has
said it halted production a decade ago of the radio models
identified in the attack, and that most of those still on sale
were counterfeit.
Yoshiki Enomoto, the general manager of Icom's security and
trade division, told Reuters it was possible that an older Icom
device had been modified to make a bomb.
It would be difficult to insert an explosive device into
the main compartment of the walkie-talkie because its
electronics are tightly packed, so it was more likely to have
been in the detachable battery pack, Enomoto told the Japanese
broadcaster Fuji TV.
The Lebanese source said explosions had occurred even in
cases where the battery pack was separated from the rest of the
device.
A Lebanese security source had earlier told Reuters that
the pagers
had been implanted with explosives
that were difficult to detect. Another security source told
Reuters that up to three grams (0.11 ounce) of explosives had
been hidden in the new pagers, apparently months before the
blasts.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Additional reporting by Tim Kelly
in Tokyo; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Kevin Liffey)
((Clauda.Tanios@thomsonreuters.com;))