Gunmen stormed the office of the independent newspaper Tuesday in northern
``The government considers this with utmost importance and believes this attack was intended to harm the government's image as a nation with freedom of expression and media independence,'' an official statement said Wednesday.
``The government ... will take every possible step to bring the culprits to book,'' the statement said.
Dressed in black, the attackers broke into the office of the newspaper based in the northern town of
Editor N. Vithyatharan said the gunmen demanded to see three reporters who managed to escape the office. He said the newspaper's editorial manager and a circulation assistant died, and another employee was seriously wounded.
Uthayan is an independent newspaper, but is considered to have close links to Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority.
``I have no doubts that this is a work of armed groups working with the government security forces,'' Vithyatharan said, adding the reason for the attack may have been a cartoon the newspaper published on Monday depicting a former rebel leader prostrating himself before the president.
The person shown in the cartoon, Douglas Devananda, is now a government minister.
Tamil Tiger rebels accuse the government of using other armed Tamil groups to attack the guerrillas. The groups, which once fought alongside the Tigers for a separate state, gave up their struggle after a failed India-arranged peace accord in 1987.
The government has denied backing such groups.
President Mahinda Rajapakse, scheduled to address an international media freedom conference in
``His thinking was that the Tigers had done it ahead of his speech to embarrass him. But we clearly told him that the government should bear the responsibility,'' Vithyatharan said.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate nation for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese-dominated state of discrimination.
More than 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before a Norway-brokered cease-fire was signed in 2002
Sri Lankan government offers Tamil rebels seaplanes for internal meeting ahead of talks
The Tigers have said they must hold a meeting among themselves before they agree to attend the planned peace talks in
But the talks, originally scheduled for April 25, became mired in disputes over travel arrangements and spiraling violence, as the country teeters on the edge of a return to civil war.
The Tigers had demanded that government helicopters fly their commanders to the rebels' headquarters for the internal meeting before any future peace talks are held.
The government had instead proposed using private helicopters, but the rebels rejected the idea. The dispute strained relations, and the insurgents pulled out of the talks.
On Wednesday, government peace secretariat chief Palitha Kohona said, ``We have offered them (the Tigers) seaplanes and have agreed on the landing site.''
``On behalf of the peace secretariat, we hope the LTTE will take this opportunity to complete their internal consultations so that (they) could proceed to
There was no immediate comment from the rebels.
Kohona's comment came a day after President Mahinda Rajapakse urged the Tigers to resume peace talks.
The talks are meant to salvage a 2002 cease-fire that appears to be on the verge of collapse amid violence which claimed about 150 people, including 79 government troops, in April.
The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the country's Sinhalese majority.
More than 65,000 people were killed in the fighting before
