Libya said three journalists were killed in a Nato air strike on state television yesterday and that the murder of the rebels’ army chief proved Al-Qaeda was instigating the country’s armed revolt.

“Three of our colleagues were murdered and 15 injured while performing their professional duty as Libyan journalists,” said Khaled Basilia, director of Al-Jamahiriya television’s English-language service.

He branded the air strike “an act of international terrorism and in violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.

Earlier, Nato in Brussels announced it had carried out precision strikes on three Libyan television transmitters to silence “terror broadcasts” by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

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

“In light of our (UN) mandate to protect civilian lives, we had to act. After due consideration and careful planning to minimise the risks of casualties or long-term damage to television transmission capabilities, Nato performed the strike,” he said.

But Basilia said the channel posed no threat to civilians. “We are not a military target, we are not commanders in the army and we do not pose threat to civilians,” he insisted.

“We are performing our job as journalists representing what we wholeheartedly believe is the reality of Nato’s aggression and the violence in Libya,” Basilia said.

Libyan rebels, meanwhile, probed the killing of their army chief, General Abdel Fatah Yunis.

“The NTC has appointed an investigative committee and we will publish all the facts of this investigation,” said Ali Tarhuni, who handles economic affairs for the rebel National Transitional Council.