The offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily paper and those of a company that printed opposition election material were petrol-bombed this morning.
The bombings occurred in the country's second-largest city of Bulawayo amid an increasingly tense run-up to presidential polls on March 9th-10th.
A security guard who witnessed the bombing around 3 a.m. (1 a.m. Irish time) at the Daily Newsoffices said two bombs were hurled at the paper's reception area, it was reported. The offices suffered minor damages after the guard rushed to put out the fire.
A private printing firm, the Daily Press (not linked to the Daily News), which is five streets away from the newspaper, was burned down after a petrol bomb attack.
The company had been printing campaign flyers and posters for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Journalists at the Daily Newswere back at work after police went to the premises to carry out investigations.
Last week the newspaper's offices were plastered with ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front presidential election campaign posters.
Launched two years ago, the mass-circulation Daily Newshas often been criticised by the government and its supporters.
AFP