Israel killed Iran's top nuclear scientists 'in their sleep': media

Nine of Iran's top 10 nuclear scientists assassinated by Israel last week were killed simultaneously with a "special weapon" while they were sleeping in their beds, Israeli TV Channel 12 reported on Thursday.

Details of the weapon have been classified and are not allowed to be disclosed to the public. Israel made sure they were killed at the same time in order to prevent any leaks about the operation, according to the network.

The remaining scientist was killed shortly after the simultaneous attacks, it said.

Israel has been closely monitoring the movements of Iranian nuclear scientists for years, with the 10 killed having been placed on its assassination list in November last year.

Israel's intelligence community considers the killing of nuclear scientists to be the most critical part of what it calls Operation Narnia, as Iran's military leaders and facilities are more easily replaced or rebuilt, whereas the expertise of nuclear scientists would take longer to rebuild, Channel 12 said, citing an unnamed intelligence officer.