NATO targets Libyan state television

Tripoli -MAP- Fighter aircraft destroyed three satellite transmission dishes in the Libyan capital Tripoli, used by state television to broadcast government propaganda, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) said.

Nato said the were being used to incite violence and threaten civilians. A series of loud explosions echoed across the capital before dawn.

The director of the broadcaster’s English-language service said three people were killed and 15 wounded in the air strikes.

“Three of our colleges were murdered and 15 injured while performing their professional duty as Libyan journalists,” Khaled Basilia of Al Jamahiriya television said in a statement.

A Nato statement confirmed the early Saturday strike.

“A few hours ago, Nato conducted a precision air strike that disabled three ground-based Libyan state TV satellite transmission dishes in Tripoli...with the intent of degrading Qadhafi’s use of satellite television as a means to intimidate the Libyan people and incite acts of violence against them,” the statement said.