Colombo, January 6:

Attackers torched a private TV station in Sri Lanka today after it was labelled “unpatriotic” for its coverage of the war against Tamil rebels, police and media activists said.

The studios and control room of the Maharaja TV network just outside Colombo were smashed and set alight in a pre-dawn attack, police said.

Media rights activists said the station had been accused by sections of the state media of “unpatriotic” coverage and criticised for reporting a suicide bombing in Colombo on Friday, the day troops took the rebel political capital of Kilinochchi.

“We strongly condemned the attack on the MTV offices and we urge the authorities to speedily investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said the president of the Working Journalists’ Association, Sanath Balasuriya.

The US embassy in Colombo also condemned what it said was the “latest in a series of criminal attacks on the independent media in Sri Lanka.” Media rights activist Poddala Jayantha said the attack followed a smear campaign against the television network by a section of the state media.

An MTV spokesman said men in a van without number plates had carried out the attack, which came two days after the station was hit with a petrol bomb. There were no casualties, but the station was severely damaged. The government, however, condemned the attack.