By Karen Allen
BBC News, Nairobi
Thousands of copies of one of Kenya's leading newspapers have been burnt after an armed raid on its headquarters in the capital Nairobi.
A television station run by the Standard group has also been put off the air.
The government has not commented on what has happened.
But the action follows a report in the Standard that the president of Kenya had a secret meeting with a senior member of the opposition.
Hooded men carrying AK47s raided the offices of the Standard group in the early hours of the morning and also stormed into the Standard newspaper's printing presses in Nairobi's industrial area.
Thousands of newspapers were dragged out into the yard and set on fire.
'Almost certainly police'
Meanwhile, KTN Television, the Standard group's station, was taken off the air.
The men seized transmission equipment and four members of staff were taken away and then released.
The managing editor of KTN, Farida Karoney, said the masked men were almost certainly police.
"Although they didn't identify themselves directly, we think they are police officers, because when they took off from the building, they took four of our staff and they took them to the central police station," she said.
"They detained them there for about two hours, but they later told them they were free to go, so we believe they're police officers because who else can take somebody to a police station and detain them for two hours? They must have been police officers."
Journalists arrested
So far, there has been no comment from the government.
But the leader of the opposition, Uhuru Kenyatta, has been quick to condemn the action as an attempt to muzzle the press.
The twin raids follow the publication of a story last week about an alleged secret meeting between President Mwai Kibaki and a senior opposition figure, Kalonzo Musyoka.
Both men have denied the meeting took place.
Three Standard journalists who worked on the story were arrested and are still being held in jail without charge.
KTN are now seeking a court order to enable them to resume transmissions.
(BBC)
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