Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today that he was shocked and saddened by the gun attack at a Sikh temple in the US state of Wisconsin in which six people were killed.

Mr Singh is himself a member of the Sikh faith.

"That this senseless act of violence should be targeted at a place of religious worship is particularly painful," he said in a statement.

Mr Singh said he hoped authorities would reach out to the victims' families and work to prevent the recurrence of such violent acts.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee, the top Sikh religious body, said it will send a committee to meet Mr Singh and India's ambassador to the US to demand Sikhs be protected from future attacks.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.