The editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper that has been highly critical of the island's hawkish government and its war on Tamil rebels was shot dead yesterday, in the second attack on the press in a week.

Gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire on Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader , as he drove to work near the capital Colombo, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said.

Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, shot dead Wickrematunga, 52, was rushed to hospital but died after three hours of emergency surgery. Colleagues said he had been shot in the chest and head.

"We tried our best to revive him but we couldn't," said hospital director Anil Jasinghe.

The shooting came just two days after unidentified attackers torched a privately owned television station labelled as "unpatriotic" by sections of the state media for its coverage of the island's bitter ethnic conflict.

The Sunday Leader is virulently anti-establishment and regularly lampoons politicians. Wickrematunga, a qualified lawyer, had often fought defamation cases brought by senior politicians.

The paper's printing presses were also targeted in repeated arson attacks, most recently in November 2007, and in 1998 he escaped another attempt on his life when gunmen sprayed his home with bullets.

Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, shot dead In his last editorial, Wickrematunga accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse of seeking to stay in power by stepping up the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island.

"Winning the war? Then there must be elections around the corner. It is no secret that the war has become Mahinda Rajapakse's recipe for electoral success," he wrote.

Rajapakse quickly condemned the killing, saying it highlighted "the existence of forces that will go to the furthest extremes in using terror and criminality to damage our social fabric."

Opposition parties 'fallen mute'

The European Union said the killing exacerbated its concerns about the freedom of Sri Lanka's media, which it said had been subject to "assaults and intimidation."

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner urged the government to introduce "protection mechanisms" for media workers and take all steps possible to bring Wickrematunga's killers to justice.

Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, shot dead The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders went further, saying in a statement that the government was responsible for Wickrematunga's death.

"President Rajapakse, his associates and the government media are directly to blame because they incited hatred against him and allowed an outrageous level of impunity to develop as regards violence against the press," it said.

Wickrematunga also recently criticised the country's main opposition parties, saying they had "fallen mute" and that "independent media institutions have taken on the job of the opposition".

"That is why more journalists have been attacked in recent years than have opposition politicians," he said.

Sri Lankan security forces are currently pushing into remaining rebel-held territory in the far north after capturing Kilinochchi, the LTTE's political capital.

The Tigers have vowed to hit back in their 37-year battle for a separate homeland that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

But the escalation of fighting in the north has been matched by fear for civil rights in the south, with reporters and media organisations suffering frequent attacks in government-run areas.