At least nine people, including a girl, have been killed and 2,750 wounded in simultaneous explosions of pagers used by Hezbollah members across Lebanon.

A Hezbollah official said the wounded include the son of Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah and the son of senior security official Wafiq Safa.

Hezbollah had acquired the communication devices that blew up in Lebanon and Syria after the group’s leader ordered members in February to stop using mobile phones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence.

An unnamed Hezbollah official said, “The pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use”.

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