32 people are dead and 3,000 injured as a result of part 15 devices exploding in a coordinated attack in the middle east. The involved devices included pagers and walkie talkies, but the example is set that any small electronic devices could be outfitted with incendiary capability. Simply making or receiving a cellphone call must now be taken with apprehension.
Not to address the politics of that, but specifically the possible dangers:
The book Puzzle Palace documents, as do more recent books, of how mail gets intercepted by the NSA in the US for electronics. Been happening for decades prior to 2001. I swear Mr. Gandolf I ain't been droppin' no eves, but that agency pretty much taps everything.
Possibility of "mail" or parcel interception is high and even more shady over seas through bribery. Even a better possibility a manufacturer installed it directly.
However, having stated all that, I think it's more like units were more hacked through a vulnerability. Or the aforementioned through a back door. A hack like pouring salt water into lithium batteries and seeing it catch fire strikes me as most likely, except we are told it was from a call to the "pagers".
Presumably if people in the US start popping off like firecrackers with phones or pagers we would hear of it?