The Taiwanese company whose name appeared on the pagers that detonated across Lebanon has denied manufacturing the devices. That has put a lesser-known Budapest-based consulting firm in focus.

Gold Apollo denied all involvement with the explosive pagers, telling NPR outside its offices in Taiwan that it was a Budapest-based company called BAC Consulting which manufactured the devices.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said on Wednesday it attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first strike at its arch-foe since pager blasts wounded thousands of its members in Lebanon and raised the prospect of a wider Middle East war.

A company based in Hungary was responsible for manufacturing the pagers that exploded in an apparent Israeli operation targeting Hezbollah, another firm said Wednesday. The attack

Exploding pagers killed at least 11 people in Lebanon on Tuesday, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounded about 2,800 others, health officials said. Hezbollah said it was the target of the attack and eight of its fighters were among the dead.

The wave of exploding pagers that injured nearly 3,000 and killed at least nine, including a 9-year-old girl, in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday was a stunning and unexpected blow against Israel’s longtime foe,

The walkie-talkies were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence services and then delivered to Hezbollah as part of the militia's emergency communications system.