Contract killers gun down Sri Lankan pastor

Two police auxiliaries and a businessman have been arrested following the cold-blooded shooting in in Ampara, in Eastern Sri Lanka, of a young pastor and his family.

Neil Edirisinghe, 37, of the House Church Foundation, is believed to have been shot in a contract killing following six months of threatening phone-calls, according to police.  The attackers also shot his wife Shiromi, 31, in the stomach, and their two-year old son, Sheraad, who was injured, and is reported to be suffering from severe trauma.

Shiromi is unconscious in intensive care in hospital and her condition is said to be ‘critical’.  

A National Christian Evangelical Council of Sri Lanka (NCECSL) report said: ‘Some prominent persons in the area accepted the Gospel, and began attending Pastor Neil’s Church, which angered certain persons who conspired to have him killed.  He made the supreme sacrifice for the Gospel.’  

The murder happened at 9.30pm on 17 February 2008, when two men on a motorcycle began shooting outside his house. The family had just returned home after visiting friends for a meal.

The police have reported that they have arrested four men in connection with the murder. Two of them are Gramarakshaka Niladhari (Home Guards) - an auxiliary force established by the government to assist the police and military in security and military duties. Another is a local businessman.

The funeral of the martyred pastor was held on Thursday 21 February in Ampara where he served and died.  

NCEASL condemned what they described as ‘this senseless and violent act’, and called for justice.

Pastor Neil Edirisinghe was a Lanka Bible College (LBC) student at the Ampara Extension Centre which is supported by St Mary’ Church, Islington in London. Pastor Neil Edirisinghe is the second LBC Student shot dead, the first being Pastor Lional Jayasinghe, who was shot some years ago for planting a church in the South of Sri Lanka.

The January 2005 Sri Lanka tsunami relief mission mounted by St Mary Islington and Wind Sand and Stars was made as part of the national NCEASL response.