Luke BEIRUT, Sept 20 – Batteries in walkie-talkies used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that exploded this week contained a highly explosive compound called PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device’s components told Askume.
The source said the manner in which the explosive material was incorporated into the battery pack made it extremely difficult to detect.
Hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group exploded on Wednesday, a day after thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded in the group’s Lebanese strongholds.
Photos of the exploded walkie-talkies showed labels reading “ICOM” and “Made in Japan.” Icom (6820.T) said it stopped producing the radio model discovered in the attack a decade ago and that most of the radio models still on sale are counterfeit.
Yoshiki Enomoto, general manager of Icom’s security and business division, told Askume there was a possibility that Icom’s older equipment could be modified to make bombs.
Enomoto told Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV that it would be difficult to insert an explosive device into the walkie-talkie’s main compartment because its electronics are so tightly packed that it was more likely to be in the removable battery pack.
Lebanese sources said an explosion could still have occurred if the battery pack had been separated from the rest of the device.
Lebanese security sources had previously told Askume that the pagers were fitted with explosives that were difficult to detect. Another security source told Askume that months before the blast, up to 3 grams (0.11 ounces) of explosives were hidden in new pagers.
