"On the evening of Oct 15, the 'Falungong' heretical organization again sent illegal broadcast signals that attacked the SINOSAT satellite," the Xinhua news agency reported.

They "interfered with the normal broadcasting of China Central Television and some regional television stations and disrupted the broadcasts of the successful launch of the Shenzhou V manned space flight," it said.

The report gave details of the technology used in the attack, but said it originated from Taiwan between 6:00 to 7:45 pm Beijing time (10:00 to 11:45 Wednesday.

Counter-measures were taken to block the interference and the broadcasts went on normally, it added.

"This incident again reveals the anti-social nature of the 'Falungong' sect which only wishes to cause trouble when happy things come," Xinhua said.

Last year, China accused the banned spiritual group of attacking satellites used by China Central Television in June, September and December. Another incident occurred last week, the report said.

Falungong was banned in China in July 1999 by the government, which considered the millions of followers of the group the biggest threat to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

Falungong mixes traditional Buddhist and Taoist beliefs with mass breathing and meditation exercises.

Several hundred Falungong followers have been jailed in China for their beliefs, while some tens of thousands have been incarcerated in labor camps or detained by police for shorter periods of time, exiled members of the group say.

Last December, eight followers of the group were sentenced to prison terms of five to 13 years after being convicted of interrupting a central Anhui provincial cable TV network broadcast on May 31 for about half an hour, affecting approximately 3,900 viewers.

In October 2002, a court in northeast China's Jilin province also upheld jail terms on 13 followers for committing similar acts in Jilin.

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