Colombo, December 27 (IANS) Armed Sri Lankan commandos Thursday rescued a minister held hostage for hours by furious employees of the state-owned television here after he allegedly assaulted a senior official of the station.

Labour Minister Mervyn Silva, who once hit the headlines for asking the Tamils to go back "to their homes in India", was confined to a room by thousands of employees after he allegedly assaulted the director of news for not featuring him in a telecast.

Silva was incensed when he found that the programme on President Mahinda Rajapaksa's tsunami anniversary function held in Matara in southern Sri Lanka Wednesday did not show him speaking. Silva has been a longstanding political bigwig in Matara district.

As the Rupavahini employees turned angry after hearing about the attack on their news director, the minister took refuge in the office of the TV's chairman, along with his guards.

The employees threatened to beat him up if he came out. Appeals by Media Minister Lakshman Yapa to forgive him fell on deaf ears. The police were passive onlookers and President Rajapaksa took no action to bail out the minister though the incident was telecast live for hours by all TV channels, including the state owned Rupavahini, and millions across the country stayed glued to their TV sets.

Eventually, the police handcuffed one of Silva's guards from the ministerial security division who had assaulted some station staff. Later, after Silva was whisked away by the commandos in a van, the staff took out their frustration, beating him black and blue.

Silva, however, was unrepentant. Before departing, he shouted, amid jeers, that he had done "nothing wrong" and he was as "strong as the legendary Sinhalese warrior king Duttugamunu".

"But I apologise to Rupavahini," he said nevertheless, sweating and smiling nervously.

Silva had earlier got into a scrap with the Tamil-owned Maharaja TV and had demanded that the Tamils of Sri Lanka be repatriated to "their homes in India". The Tamil community had staged protests against the remark.