(Updated) Sabotage was the reason for the loss of power to a microwave communications centre in Reykjavik early Thursday morning.

Two important cables were cut to satellite receivers at the Icelandic Meteorological Office using three gas bombs, one of which failed to go off. The explosions and subsequent fire caused domestic digital-to-aerial television services to cut out at around 04.00.

Fire fighters called to the scene has little trouble putting the fires out, but a lot of damage had already been done. An initial forensic police investigation took a few hours and television services were not restored until 07.00 Thursday morning. Police are calling for witnesses who may have seen suspicious activity in the Bustadavegur area.

The attack is being treated as a serious threat which could potentially have damaged television and telephone services much more severely.