COLOMBO, Dec 28: Two churches were attacked in Sri Lanka on Sunday amid inter-religious tension following the funeral of a Buddhist monk opposed to religious conversions, police said.

Mobs stormed into a Jehovah’s Witness hall and another church after services finished on Sunday in Puvakpitiya, about 60 km east of the capital Colombo, police said.

“The attackers damaged the furniture and window panes,” a police spokesman in the area said by telephone. He said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The latest violence came four days after 15 people were wounded during the cremation in Colombo of Gangodavila Soma, a controversial Buddhist monk opposed to proselytising who died of a heart attack earlier this month in Russia.

Police said several police vehicles were damaged at the funeral by mourners who demanded the release of two men who had been distributing “subversive” leaflets that could have instigated inter-religious violence.

Christmas mass at almost all churches across the country were conducted under police protection amid fears of attacks from Buddhist mobs.

A group of saffron-robed monks tried last week to stop a Test cricket match between visiting England and Sri Lanka to show respect for Soma, but they were stopped by police and turned away amid noisy protests.

Christians make up 7.5 per cent of the population of majority-Buddhist Sri Lanka, where more than 60,000 people have died in a 30-year armed campaign by Tamils Tigers.

The Sri Lanka constitution grants the foremost place to Buddhism which is practised by nearly 70 per cent of the 18.66 million population. Hindus make up about 15 per cent while Muslims are about 7.5 per cent.—AFP