TV man dead in Israeli strikes

2006-07-22 15:57

Beirut - An employee of the LBCI television station was killed and another wounded when the Israeli military hit transmission towers at three locations in Lebanon on Saturday.

"We have one killed and another one wounded in Fatqa," in the Kesrwan mountains northeast of Beirut, said a LBCI official who did not want to be identified.

Lebonese police said the Israeli strikes had targeted transmission towers for a number of private TV stations, including LBCI and Future, and some private radio stations in Fatqa and further up Mount Sannine.

In Fatqa, TV footage showed a cloud of thick black smoke from the burning towers billowing into the sky. Footage also showed a truck burning.

Television transmission towers, including Hezbollah's Al-Manar and the privately run New TV, and cellphone network masts were also destroyed in Terbol in northern Lebanon, said police.

Saturday's strikes were the latest in a series of Israeli air strikes on transmitters, particularly those of Hezbollah, since the Shi'ite group captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

- AFP