Christians in Sri Lanka are appealing to the international community for help as their country slides closer towards civil war. Believers are getting caught in the crossfire between warring Tamil and Sinhalese communities, and church leaders have likened the growing violence in Sri Lanka to the 'killing fields' of Cambodia, Release International has reported.

In the midst of that turmoil, Buddhist militants are continuing their campaign against Christianity, attacking churches and threatening Christian schools, tells RI.

"Extremists believe this country belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists, and if you are a true Sri Lankan you must be a Buddhist," said Godfrey Yogarajah, the General Secretary of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).

A 50-strong mob led by four Buddhist monks confronted Christians gathering for a service at an Assembly of God church. They accused the pastor of bribing villagers to convert to Christianity and they warned him to close down the church "or face the consequences", RI has told Christian Today.

Elsewhere, militants burnt down a church and threatened pastors. And in Jaffna, a church minister vanished without trace after government forces searched his church for Tamil rebels sheltering among refugees.

Attacks against Christians have been growing in recent years. In an earlier incident, Buddhist extremists attempted to forcibly convert Pastor 'A', a woman. RI reported that they also tried to rape her. "They forced us to kneel down; ordered us to declare that Buddha is our God and kept beating us. But we refused to say anything. We sat on the ground and kept silent."

It was 10 o'clock one evening. Pastor 'A' was in her house with three other women, when they heard a loud noise outside.

"We looked out and we saw a lot of men who had come and surrounded us," she told RI. "They were local Buddhist monks who threatened us and told us to stop our [Christian] activities."

But the threats quickly moved beyond words: "I was the first person they caught. The men who found me fought with me for a very long time. The man was trying to throw me down on the floor and I knew he was going to rape me. I fought as much as I could, but at one point I lost all strength.

"I cried out to the Lord for him to help me. It was a miracle! He gave me strength and he saved me."

Release International, which serves the persecuted church in more than 30 countries, is working with its partners in Sri Lanka to support Christians.

"Violence and militancy are not normally associated with Buddhism, which is usually seen as peaceful," says RI's Chief Executive, Andy Dipper.

"But in Sri Lanka religion has become mixed with politics and nationalism - creating a toxic brew of hatred and fear. And Christians are often caught right in the middle - as so often happens when a nation slides towards civil war."

According to Godfrey Yogarajah of the NCEASL, these are tough times for the church. "But we have seen that with persecution there is also growth. There are people coming to know Christ. There are Buddhist monks who actually persecuted the church coming to say they are sorry, that they were misled. They realise that even though they have done evil, the Christians have repaid them with good."

Pastor 'A', who survived intimidation and attempted rape, said: "Please pray for us; for the believers God has called, that they will be faithful and strong, and for me, for the task God has given me, that I will be faithful too."

Godfrey Yogarajah added: "We would like the church in the UK to pray that the Church in Sri Lanka will have integrity; that they would stand through these trials, that they would have the faith to go through the fire and come out refined."

Video reports from Sri Lanka can be downloaded from the website: www.releaseinternational.org