COLOMBO, Jan 9: Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead one of the most outspoken editors of a newspaper known to be critical of the Sri Lankan government – the second attack on the media this week.

Lasantha Wickramatunge, editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, was killed while driving to work in an area outside the capital. He was shot in the head and rushed into emergency surgery, but died of head wounds, hospital sources said.

Wickramatunge had a history of accusing President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government of corruption. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s brother, has said he plans to sue the paper for defamation.

Police officials say they are investigating the killing, but no one has been arrested. The government has denied having any hand in the killing and has promised an investigation. Wickrematunge was journalist as well as a lawyer, married for the second time recently.

Media rights activists have blamed the government for failing to prevent attacks on the media.

The shooting came two days after gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades raided a private television station and destroyed much of its equipment.

The attacks followed allegations by the government-controlled newspapers and television channels that the TV network in question had not been ‘patriotic enough’ in the coverage of developments in civil war.