The dastardly attack on the MTV studio complex at Depanama, Pannipitiya yesterday must be condemned by one and all unreservedly. It has demonstrated not only the increasing vulnerability of the media to violence but also the shocking impunity with which goons are carrying out attacks on the media.

Perpetrators of yesterday's violence have yet to be identified. And we do not intend to subject anyone to a media trial. But, previous attacks on MTV/Sirasa, both verbal and physical, Minister Mervyn Silva's involvement in some of them and the deplorable failure on the part of the police to conduct impartial probes into those incidents have naturally caused the public to suspect a government hand in yesterday's attack as well.

The attackers, according to eyewitnesses, were armed with automatic rifles and small firearms and set about wreaking havoc on the studio at a leisurely pace, the implication being that they did not give a damn about the long arm of the law. It is also alleged that the goons had got away by the time the police arrived. The police must be made to explain why there was an inordinate delay in responding to a distress call, especially from a media institution under threat. They had also not provided the MTV complex with security, though it had faced a petrol bomb attack a few days before.

Terrorists have suffered a string of ignominious defeats and the armed forces are poised to remove the scourge of terror once and for all. The global media focus is on Sri Lanka's determined effort to protect democracy. Yesterday's attack could not have come at a worse time for the country as incidents of that nature only strengthen the hand of terror backers on a campaign to project Sri Lanka as a killing field sans any democracy.

The government has condemned the incident as an attempt to discredit it and take the gloss off the Kilinochchi victory. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered a high level probe and promised to bring the culprits to book. It is a step in the right direction as that is the way the government can clear its name and prevent the country's image being ruined internationally. It must have the incident probed thoroughly, expose the attackers and haul them up before court urgently.