Spy plane pictures live on satellite TV

Live pictures taken by American spy planes of anti-terrorist and peacekeeping operations are being beamed directly to the homes of European satellite television viewers, it was claimed last night.

Live pictures taken by American spy planes of anti-terrorist and peacekeeping operations are being beamed directly to the homes of European satellite television viewers, it was claimed last night.

Intelligence experts say that footage of Allied operations in the Balkans is routinely beamed across Europe via a commercial TV satellite, Telstar 11, in orbit above Brazil.

The unencrypted data can then be watched live with a normal satellite receiver. Footage available this week included a security alert at the US headquarters in Kosovo and a patrol on the Macedonia-Kosovo border.

A Nato spokesman confirmed that a communications satellite was used to send the pictures but insisted it was done with "appropriate security".