Assailants on motorbikes attacked a Sri Lankan newspaper editor and his wife as they drove to work Friday morning, stabbing them repeatedly, the Associated Press (AP) has reported quoting authorities. The couple received minor wounds and both were expected to recover.
Four people on motorbikes blocked Upali Tennakoon's car outside of Colombo as he and his wife were heading to work at the independent Rivira weekly newspaper, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said. The assailants then repeatedly stabbed the couple, he said.
Dr. Prasad Ariyawansa, a doctor at Colombo National Hospital, said Tennakoon was treated for lacerations to his hands and forehead and his wife had some lacerations as well.
"They smashed the windscreen and then started attacking us," his wife Dhammika said as they were brought to the Colombo National hospital, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). "I hugged him tight as they started hitting us with sticks and stabbed," she said.
The assault came two weeks after Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of a paper that is harshly critical of the government, was gunned down by unknown assailants on motorcycles. His killing, just two days after a private TV station was shot up by gunmen armed with grenades, prompted a wave of international criticism against Sri Lanka over the safety of journalists. No arrests have been made in the killing.The government has also been criticized for arresting journalists critical of its policies and its war on ethnic Tamil rebels.
