NATO said it had bombed three satellite dishes in Tripoli to stop ‘terror broadcasts’ by Muammar Gaddafi, but Libyan state TV remained on air and condemned what it said was the targeting of journalists.
NATO has been bombing Libyan targets since March, when it intervened under a UN mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces as he fights a revolt against his 41-year rule.
In a video statement titled ‘NATO silences Gaddafi's terror broadcasts’, NATO official Colonel Roland Lavoie said NATO had disabled the ground-based satellites in a precision airstrike.
Libyan state television continued to broadcast, however, and the Libyan Broadcasting Corporation issued a statement saying three employees were killed and 15 wounded in the strike.
'We are not a military target, we are not commanders in the army and we do not pose a threat to civilians,' said Khalid Bazelya, an LBC official, reading the statement to reporters.
'We are performing our job as journalists representing what we wholeheartedly believe is the reality of NATO aggression and the violence in Libya,' he said.
'The fact that we work for the Libyan government or represent anti-NATO, anti-armed gangs views does not make us a legitimate target for NATO rockets.'
Col Lavoie expressed scepticism about the casualty report.
He said: ‘Our intervention was necessary as TV was being used as an integral component of the regime apparatus designed to systematically oppress and threaten civilians and to incite attacks against them’.
Libyan state television broadcasts endless footage of state rallies and tribal meetings in support of Gaddafi.
Talk shows feature hosts and guests condemning NATO airstrikes and discussing hardships imposed on Libyans by the bombing campaign. It shows little information about the rebels, whom it calls armed gangs or agents of Islamist extremism.
Col Lavoie said NATO had acted after careful planning to minimise the risk of casualties or long-term damage to television transmission capabilities, and was now in the process of assessing the effect of the strike.
Leading NATO members including the United States, Britain and France have demanded that Gaddafi leave power and have recognised the rebels as the representatives of the Libyan people.
