An opposition-aligned television network has been set on fire in the Maldives.

According to local reports, a group of at least six people stormed the offices of the Raajje television network in a pre-dawn attack on Monday, and set fire to equipment after assaulting an unarmed guard.

"All broadcast equipment, transmission equipment, computer systems fully burnt and destroyed," the station said on its Twitter feed.

The Maldivian police force say they are treating the incident as an arson attack.

"Preliminary information revealed that the fire was set after assaulting the expatriate guard there on duty with a sharp object," police said in a statement on their website.

Police spokesman Hassan Haneef said officers, along with forensic experts were already at the scene and investigations were underway.

Former president Mohamed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party has condemned the attack on Raajje television as politically motivated.

The Maldives has been wracked by occasionally violent protests since September 23 when the Supreme Court suspended a run-off election for which Mr Nasheed was the frontrunner.

The court suspended the vote while it heard a petition into allegations of electoral fraud made by a defeated candidate, Qasim Ibrahim, who has demanded that the results be annulled.

The run-off election would be between Mohamed Nasheed, who claims he was ousted last year in a coup, and Abdulla Yameen, a half-brother of former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled for three decades until 2008.

ABC/AFP