Unknown assailants have shot and wounded an independent Montenegrin journalist who has written about crime and corruption in the small Balkan country.

Olivera Lakic, a journalist for the Montenegrin Vijesti daily, was wounded in a leg Tuesday outside her home in the capital, Podgorica. Lakic was taken to a local hospital and is out of danger.

Police say the attack happened just before 9 p.m. local time (1900GMT). They say a search for the attacker is underway.

The chief editor of the Vijesti daily Mihailo Jovovic says Lakic told him that a man approached her and shot her in the leg, while two more men ran away.

Lakic, 49, also was beaten six years ago after she published a series of articles about alleged murky dealings over a tobacco factory.