Wellington  - Fiji's army chief has denied the military was responsible for a fire bomb attack on the home of the editor of a newspaper he wants shut down, saying soldiers would do the job properly, according to a report from the capital Suva on Thursday.

Colonel Pita Driti, who said this week that the daily Fiji Times was the "most non-cooperative and biased" newspaper in the country and should be closed, said the homemade bombs thrown at the house of editor-in-chief Netani Rika demonstrated the military was not involved, Radio New Zealand International reported.

"One of the things we noticed is the use of kerosene instead of benzine," he said.

"Kerosene will not be really that effective. We would use more lethal ones if we were to be doing these and we would be causing a lot more harm than what these group of men are doing."

Driti said the people behind the attack were trying to discredit the military government of strongman Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2006 and has rejected calls to hold a fresh election this year. (dpa)