At least three media workers died and three were injured after Israeli troops bombed a residential cluster housing journalists in south Lebanon's Hasbaya, early on Friday, in an attack described by a Lebanese minister as a war crime.

Those killed were a cameraman and an engineer working for Lebanese news channel Al Mayadeen and a cameraman working for Al Manar, a TV station backed by Hezbollah.

Al Mayadeen named the cameraman as Ghassan Najjar and the engineer as Mohammed Rida, while Al Manar said its cameraman Wissam Qassim was also killed in the attack. Hasbaya, at the foot of Mount Hermon, is a base for many media outlets covering Israel's war on Hezbollah in the south. Although the town is in south-east Lebanon, it has been spared from the fighting thus far and Israel has not commented on why it launched the attacks.

The media workers killed were staying in a group of bungalows in Hasbaya. Videos from the scene showed heavily damaged bungalows, while vehicles clearly marked 'press' were also caught up in the attack.

Eighteen journalists from seven media organisations were staying at the site and were asleep at the time of the strike, Lebanon's Minister of Information Ziad Makary said. He described the attacks as premeditated and a “war crime”.

Israel was “scared” of reports from the Lebanese press, said Farhat Muhammad, a correspondent for Lebanese channel Al Jadeed, who was also staying at the guesthouse.

“They tried to strike us into silence,” he said on air after the attacks. “But we, like the people of Lebanon and the honourable people everywhere in this country, will not be silenced.”

The Samir Kassir Foundation's monitor, the SKeyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedom, described the strike as “another war crime and a direct attack on journalists resting after a day of covering intense attacks”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said they were "outraged" by the attacks. "Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime under international law," said CPJ Programme Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.

"This attack must be independently investigated and the perpetrators must be held to account."

Earlier this week Israel attacked an office used by Al Mayadeen in south Lebanon which had already been evacuated. Two journalists from the channel were killed when Israel bombed their position last November.