Sinhala journalist shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 July 2006, 04:44 GMT]
An unidentified person has shot and killed Lakmal Sampath, a former defence correspondent at the Sinhala newspaper Sathdina, Sunday morning in Dehiwela, Police said. Lakmal Sampath was a popular columnist who revealed details about the Sri Lankan Military Intelligence, corruption at various levels of the Sri Lankan defence establishment, and underworld activities in Colombo, according to Sinhala media sources in Colombo.

Lakmal Sampath, who was earlier warned not to reveal details about the Sri Lanka intelligence community in his articles, had gone out with a person to discuss matters to a story Sunday morning, relatives said.

He was found dead near Jeyawardene Avenue and Peter's Avenue in Dehiwela, 10 km away from his residence in Verahara in Kiriyandena, sometime after he left home.

Sampath had continued as a source to fellow Sinhala writers despite warnings by the intelligence establishment, media sources said.

His articles have been published in news papers including Irudina, Lakbima, and Sathdina. He also worked for TNL radio network.