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Fatima Abdullah, 9, killed in Israel's pager attack, buried in Lebanon
She was one of the two child victims of Israel's coordinated attack on pagers reportedly used by Hezbollah members.
Fatima Abdullah, 9, killed in Israel's pager attack, buried in Lebanon
Mourners attended the funeral ceremony for Fatima Abdullah, at Saraain Al Faouqa district of Bekaa, Lebanon. / Photo: AA
September 18, 2024

Fatima Jaafar Abdullah, who was killed in a pager explosion, has been reportedly buried near her family’s home in the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon.

"Fatima was studying and had intended to bring the pager device to her father when it unexpectedly exploded in her hands," her cousin Muhammed Abbas Abdullah said during her funeral procession.

A video of the funeral showed her aunt crying as she paid farewell to the young victim.

The New York Timesreported an aunt, Zeinab Mousawi, as saying Fatima had just come home from her first day of fourth grade not long before the attack.

Israel carried out on Tuesday a planned attack utilising pagers allegedly used by Hezbollah members, sending out a signal that probably triggered an explosive within the devices, killing at least 12 people, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firas Al-Abiad.

Al-Abiad also said 2,800 people were wounded, 300 critically.

RelatedNetanyahu approved pager explosions in Lebanon — Israeli media

At the funeral in the village of Saraain, the NYT said that Fatima's schoolmates were stunned to be attending a funeral for someone their age, who had died so violently.

Fatima's aunt told the NYT that "Fatima was in the kitchen on Tuesday when a pager on the table began to beep". The young girl, with the intention of bringing the device to her father, picked it up, and that's when it exploded.

According to her aunt, the explosion mangled her face and left the room covered in blood.

"Fatima was trying to take courses in English," Mousawi said. "She loved English."

The Huffington Postreported that Fatima's mother was in deep mourning as she walked alongside the coffin holding the remains of her daughter: "Fatima’s mother, dressed in black, wore a yellow Hezbollah scarf as she wept alongside the miniature coffin."

RelatedMultiple fatalities as second wave of device explosions hit Lebanon
SOURCE:TRTWorld and agencies
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