Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people 맥스카지노� including an 8-year-old girl -- and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.Among those wounded was Iran맥스카지노�s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious incident came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.The pagers that exploded had apparently been acquired by Hezbollah after the group맥스카지노�s leader ordered members in February to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use.At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding 맥스카지노� leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.It appeared that many 맥스카지노� if not most 맥스카지노� of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if others also carried the pagers. The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.The AP reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment. The explosions came hours after Israel맥스카지노�s internal security agency said it had foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official using a planted explosive device that could be remotely detonated.State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States 맥스카지노�was not aware of this incident in advance맥스카지노� and was not involved. 맥스카지노�At this point, we맥스카지노�re gathering information,맥스카지노� he said.Experts said the pager explosions pointed 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.Whatever the means, it targeted an extraordinary breadth of people with hundreds of small explosions 맥스카지노� all at once, wherever the pager carrier happened to be 맥스카지노� that left some maimed.One video circulating online showed a man picking through produce at a grocery store when the bag he was carrying at his hip explodes, sending him sprawling to the ground and bystanders running.At overwhelmed hospitals, the wounded were rushed in on stretchers, some with missing hands, faces partly blown away or gaping holes at their hips and legs near the pocket area, according to AP photographers. On a main road in central Beirut, a car door was splattered with blood and the windshield cracked.Lebanon맥스카지노�s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least nine people were killed, including an 8-year-old girl, and some 2,750 were wounded 맥스카지노� 200 of them critically 맥스카지노� by the explosions. Most had injuries in the face, hand, or around the abdomen.Hezbollah said in a statement that two of its members were among those killed. One of them was Mahdi Ammar, the son of a Hezbollah member in parliament, and two sons of other prominent figures were wounded, said the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously.맥스카지노�We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,맥스카지노� Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will 맥스카지노�for sure get its just punishment.맥스카지노�Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country맥스카지노�s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.Previously, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned the group맥스카지노�s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track their movements and carry out targeted strikes.Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert, said videos of the blasts suggested a small explosive charge 맥스카지노� as small as a pencil eraser 맥스카지노� had been placed into the devices. They would have had to have been rigged prior to delivery.맥스카지노�It seems very likely that all of these encrypted pagers were modified prior to Hezbollah purchasing them, which implies a very successful Mossad operation.맥스카지노� he said, referring to Israel맥스카지노�s foreign intelligence agency.Israel has a long history of carrying out deadly operations well beyond its borders.In January, Saleh Arouri, a senior Hamas official, was killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment building blamed on Israel. In July, Israel assassinated Hezbollah맥스카지노�s top commander in another airstrike. Hours later, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas맥스카지노� supreme leader, died in a mysterious explosion in Iran, also blamed on Israel.Israel has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby-trapped cellphones and it맥스카지노�s widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran맥스카지노�s nuclear program in 2010.Tuesday맥스카지노�s explosions came at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally that is also backed by Iran.The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah맥스카지노�s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal.___This story has been updated to correct the name of the Hezbollah lawmaker맥스카지노�s son killed by a pager blast.___AP reporters Hussein Malla, Hassan Ammar, Fadi Tawil and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Michael Biesecker in Washington, and Josef Federman, in Jerusalem, contributed to this report.