MOSCOW (TIP): A team of BBC journalists was beaten and their camera smashed in southern Russia, where they were looking into reports of Russian soldiers killed while on secret deployments near Ukraine, the broadcaster said on September 18. The three reporters were working in the southern city of Astrakhan when they were “assaulted by unidentified men in a coordinated attack,” the BBC said in a statement. “Our staff were badly beaten, their camera destroyed and then taken,” the statement said. BBC spokesman James Hardy added separately: “All are OK.” “The cameraman is continuing to receive treatment for concussion and other injuries,” he added in written remarks. After the assault the journalists were questioned at a police station. They later “discovered that recording equipment, which was in their vehicle, at the police station, had been electronically wiped”.