A bomb attack gutted the office of an independent Zimbabwean broadcaster in the capital Harare early today.
Police said the Netherlands-based Voice of the People offices were extensively damaged, destroying computers, recording and editing equipment. No one was in the building and there were no injuries.
The roof of the suburban house used as a production centre by the broadcaster collapsed.
Police spokesman Mr Wayne Bvudzijena said a security guard reported at least two men, one carrying a gun, who warned him not to intervene. They then threw two objects into the house, which was almost completely destroyed by fire after an explosion was heard.
Voice of the People, which broadcasts to Zimbabwe on shortwave radio, has been repeatedly criticised by the government for circumventing a ban on independent broadcasting in Zimbabwe by sending recorded material in Zimbabwe's local languages for transmission from The Netherlands.
The government has accused the broadcaster and a second shortwave station, SW Africa beamed from Britain, of airing hostile propaganda and stirring political division.
The printing presses of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper were destroyed in a bomb attack in December 2000, days after Information Minister Jonathan Moyo described the Daily Newsas an opposition mouthpiece and a threat to national security.
AP