COLOMBO - THE editor of a Sri Lankan anti-government newspaper was shot dead on Thursday as he drove to work near the capital Colombo, police said, in the second attack on journalists this week.

Gunmen on two motorcycles escaped after opening fire on Lasantha Wickrematunga, the editor of the Sunday Leader, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said.

The fatal shooting came two days after unidentified attackers torched a privately-owned television station that had been labelled 'unpatriotic' by sections of the state media for its coverage of the war against Tamil rebels.

Wickrematunga was rushed to the Colombo South hospital, where he 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 Sunday Leader is virulently anti-establishment and regularly lampoons politicians. It has exposed several privatisation deals that eventually ended up being overturned by the supreme court.

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.

'I think it is the work of someone against whom I have been writing recently,' Wickrematunga said then.

Reporters and media organisations have come under attack as part of the bitter ethnic war between Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan security forces, who have made significant gains in recent days.

On Tuesday an armed gang stormed the studios and control rooms of the Maharaja TV network outside Colombo, holding staff at gunpoint as they smashed and set alight equipment, police said.

After that attack, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the Sri Lankan government could no longer be trusted to act impartially towards those who wanted to silence Sri Lanka's media.

'Far too often, the government or its unofficial allies have been prime suspects behind attacks on journalists and media organisations,' the CPJ said.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has said government troops are close to finally defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after a series of major victories on the battlefield.

Security forces are 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 vicious 37-year battle for a separate homeland that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

The government on Wednesday announced a formal ban of the Tamil Tigers in a symbolic move that appeared to end the prospect of early peace talks. -- AFP