An overnight explosion has destroyed Zimbabwe's private Voice of the People (VOP) radio, one of only two independent broadcasters in that country. There were no injuries.
A security guard who was at the building at the time of the blast an hour or two after midnight said he saw three men jump over the perimeter wall.
The two-year-old shortwave radio was one of only two broadcasters which have managed to circumvent President Robert Mugabe's repressive media laws by using transmitters outside the country.
Most of VOP's programming was in Zimbabwe's two local languages, Shona and Ndebele, making it one of the few independent media that could reach the large rural population who have no access to urban newspapers.
The explosion blew off the roof of VOP's offices, in a residential neighborhood in Harare, and destroyed all the station's broadcasting equipment.
'We were called this morning by one of our staff and told it looked like the building was on fire. Then we came here and saw this,' said Faith Ndebele, VOP's chairwoman.
Zimbabwean media have repeatedly suffered attacks during the last four years, but so far none of the cases has been prosecuted. The Daily News, the only independent daily, had its printing presses destroyed in a similar overnight bombing in January 2001.
Under media law, journalists are barred from reporting on meetings of the cabinet or other government bodies. The law also obliges journalists to seek accreditation from a government panel and places severe restrictions on foreign reporters working in Zimbabwe.
