By Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung TAIPEI (Reuters) -Authorities in Taiwan and Bulgaria on Friday denied involvement in the supply chain of thousands of pagers that detonated on Tuesday in Lebanon in a deadly blow to Hezbollah.

The company, Gold Apollo, said it had not manufactured the devices, pointing to another company that it said was licensed to use its brand.

The race to find the maker of the pagers that exploded in Lebanon has taken an unexpected turn - towards a Taiwanese company few had heard of until this morning. At least 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured in Tuesday's explosions targeting members of the armed group Hezbollah, which set off a geopolitical storm in the Middle East.