Washington, DC — Following publication of a story in the Monitor Thursday, reporting that rebels in northern Uganda had shot down an army helicopter, police and other security agents surrounded and searched the headquarters of the newspaper.

Staff were prevented from leaving the offices during the search. Taking of photographs was not allowed. Reporter Frank Nyakairu was arrested but charges have not yet been lodged against him.

A spokesman for the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF), Lt. Paddy Ankunda, has denied the Monitor story, calling it "absolutely not true that we lost a gunship in any operation."

The story is just the latest of a string of "nonexistent ambushes," said information Minister Basoga Nshadhu. "The only plausible explanation," he is reported as saying by the Associated Press, "is that The Monitor is maliciously promoting banditry activities in northern Uganda."

Monitor managing editor Charles Onyango-Obbo is sticking by the paper's story, insisting that it is "accurate."

"This is a blatant attack on freedom of the press," said Juliane Kippenberg, a researcher in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "Just when independent reporting is most necessary -- in war time -- the Ugandan government has silenced one of the country's most respected journals."

Police sealed the premises after the search, and the newspaper did not publish Friday. It is not expected to publish Saturday.