Investigations have revealed that the setting fire to Uthayan newspaper printing office has been an inside job to tarnish the image of the government, the Director General of the Media Center for National Security(MCNS), Lakshman Hulugalle said.

He stated that persons connected to the Uthayan newspaper itself had carried out the attack with the intention of embarrassing the government in the festive season.

Hulugalle further charged that last week’s attack on Uthayan offices in Kilinochi was also carried out by themselves.

However, the editor of the newspaper Thevanayagam Premanand had alleged that the printing press was set on fire by an unidentified group this morning.

He claimed that an armed group stormed the the printing press of the Uthayan news paper office in Jaffna at around 5.00am today, chased away all the employees.

They entered the printing press, doused the printing machines with petrol and set fire to them, he told Ada Derana.

The editor claimed that the gang also threw stacks of newspapers, prepared for distribution, into the fire before leaving the premises.

He stated that printing machines have been completely destroyed by the fire and that a problem has risen regarding the safety of his workers.

The incident was the latest in a series of brutal attacks against the Jaffna-based newspaper, and its employees over the past several years and came just 10 days after the Uthayan offices in Kilinochi was attacked by masked assailants.

At least four employees were injured on April 03 when armed assailants attacked the Kilinochchi distribution office of the Uthayan newspaper and its workers.

Premanand stated that following the attack on the Uthayan Kilinochi office they had requested the IGP to provide security to their main office in Jaffna, however they had not received a response.