What kind of explosives were hidden in Hezbollah’s communication devices?

A Lebanese source knowledgeable about the components of the devices informed Reuters that the batteries of the walkie-talkies utilized by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which exploded this week, contained a highly explosive substance known as PETN. The integration of this explosive material within the battery pack rendered it exceptionally challenging to detect, according to the source.

On Wednesday, hundreds of walkie-talkies employed by the group detonated, following the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah’s pagers in their strongholds the previous day. Images of the detonated walkie-talkies displayed labels indicating “ICOM” and “made in Japan.”

Icom has stated that it ceased production of the identified radio models a decade ago, asserting that most currently available units are counterfeit. Yoshiki Enomoto, the general manager of Icom’s security and trade division, mentioned to Reuters that it is conceivable an older Icom device was modified to function as a bomb.

Enomoto informed the Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV that placing an explosive device within the main compartment of the walkie-talkie would be challenging due to the compact arrangement of its electronics. Therefore, it is more plausible that the explosives were located in the detachable battery pack.

A Lebanese source indicated that explosions had occurred even when the battery pack was removed from the device. Additionally, a Lebanese security source previously reported to Reuters that the pagers had been equipped with explosives that were hard to detect.

Another security source mentioned to Reuters that as much as three grams (0.11 ounce) of explosives had been concealed within the new pagers, seemingly months prior to the explosions.