Eleven gangsters armed with AK47 rifles on Saturday night invaded and burnt the Red Pepper printing press in Namanve, on Jinja Road.

The following morning a dormitory of Seeta High School, which is about a kilometre from the Red Pepper factory, was burnt during daytime, but no student was hurt. A couple of students were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were treated for shock.

CCTV cameras caught 11 mask-wearing men storming the Red Pepper compound and overpowering four guards before unleashing the explosives that left a wreckage of the printing press.

The incident, which had the hallmarks of a carefully planned operation, was executed shortly after midnight. It lasted only 10 minutes, according to CCTV footage seen by Daily Monitor.

Mr Richard Tusiime, the Red Pepper managing director, said a generator worth Shs100 million was damaged by the explosives. The blast blew off part of the iron roofing, and there were huge dents and cracks in the walls that housed the printing press.

Mr Tusiime, who described the damage as extensive, said: "It is too early to establish the cost of what was damaged, but the generator itself was very costly. It can be valued [at] Shs100 million."

The explosives may have been home-made petrol bombs, according to Mr Tusiime.

"They came in a pick-up vehicle and held our guards at gunpoint...," Mr Tusiime said, adding that the Police came in long after "a lot was already up in the flames." Mr Arinaitwe Rugyendo, the paper's managing editor, called it a "terror attack on media freedom".

Yesterday, most of The Red Pepper reporters looked devastated by the incident while senior editors remained glued on the screen watching CCTV footage.

About a month ago, some unknown people carrying four jerrycans of petrol attempted to burn the same premises but were defeated, according to a reliable source at The Red Pepper.The CCTV footage captures the entry of the arsonists, but it does not show how they left.

"These people must have traversed and known the place very well before they came to attack because they even knew where the CCTV cameras were. That is why they tried to cover the camera when burning," the source said.

The four guards, who were on duty on Saturday night were being detained at Seeta Police station. Two of them are from Premier Security Systems, while the management employed the other two.

Mr Balaam Bwengye, the officer in charge of Seeta police post, said Mr Joseph Mukazi, one of the guards, fled after the incident, leaving his gun behind.

Mr Bwengye said the guards were being treated as suspects.

The Seeta High School fire brings to 25 the number of schools affected by fires since the start of 2008.

The fire engulfed the first floor of a dormitory for A' level students, who were out to meet their parents and guardians. It was Visiting Day.

The fire, whose cause was yet to be established, destroyed all property on the floor. The administrators said they used all their fire extinguishers to put out the fast-spreading fire, but their efforts were not enough.

"The fire continued to spread. And the Fire Brigade we called wasn't arriving so we resorted to pouring water on the fire," a dormitory attendant said. The director, Dr Chrysostom Muyingo, said he suspected the school had been targeted by arsonists.

"People of bad faith have burnt the school. I wonder why a person would burn a school when our aim is to uplift the people," Dr Muyingo said. The regional police commander for central region, Mr Alfred Bitwire, said they hadn't established the cause of the fire.

But Daily Monitor learnt that one student only identified as Stevo, who stayed in the dormitory and later alerted the administrators to the fire, was detained by the police.