A TV station in Sri Lanka's been attacked

Masked gunmen threw grenades and destroyed the main studio of Sri Lanka's largest private broadcaster, days after state media criticised it for coverage of a Tamil Tiger suicide blast. President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the early morning attack on MBC Network's studios and ordered an investigation. The United States earlier demanded the perpetrators be arrested. The assault near the capital Colombo by about 15 attackers knocked MBC Network's three TV and four radio stations off the air for several hours after the gunmen blew up the master control room, witnesses and station officials said. Independent MBC has clashed with the government in the past over its coverage, and again over the weekend was criticised by state-run media for giving too much coverage to a Tamil Tiger suicide blast on Friday after a major military victory. MTV Channel head Chevaan Daniel said: "It's either that the citizens of Sri Lanka are able to drive around attacking institutions armed with weapons and grenades, or there is a hand behind it." Mass Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, without saying who was responsible, said in a statement the attack was meant to divert attention from the military's successes and "bring the government into disrepute". Press freedom groups say Sri Lanka is among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, with detentions, assassinations and intimidation common against critics of both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). About 150 journalists demonstrated outside a Colombo railway station against the attack and demanded the arrest of those responsible.

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ITN | January 6, 2009

Tags:. .UK News. .staterun. .perpetrators. .divert. .colombo