21.11.2007
Sunil C. Perera in Colombo
The
printing press of the Leader Publication was destroyed
early Wednesday by an armed gang who stormed the building
on the outskirts of Colombo and set the machines on fire,
police said.
At
least 12 masked men carrying T-56 automatic weapons threatened
the staff at the building located in Ratmalana and set
it on fire.
"The
printing press is located within a high-security zone
adjoining an Air Force airport, and this raises the question
how could the attackers escape without being detected,"
said the managing director of the group, Lal Wickrematunga.
The
group publishes three newspapers, the English-language
Sunday Leader and Morning Leader and the Sinhala-language
Irudina (Sunday) newspaper. All of them are highly critical
of the government, exposing corruption among ministers
and state institutions.
A
similar attack on the printing press had been carried
out before, but the damage reported was said to be comparatively
less.
Courtesy - Asian Tribune