Gurdwara in UK burnt in suspected arson attack

Team Udayavani, Aug 29, 2018, 10:40 AM IST

London: A Gurdwara in the British city of Leith has been severely damaged in a suspected arson attack with the police treating the “suspicious” act as a hate crime, according to a media report.

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sahib in Leith city, Scotland was set on fire in what was believed to be a “deliberate” act at around 5 am yesterday, BBC reported.

No-one was injured in the incident but the building was severely damaged. Police in Edinburgh are investigating the suspected arson attack as a hate crime.

It is believed that whoever was responsible deliberately targeted the temple and police said they were treating the incident at the temple in Leith as “suspicious”, the report said.

A post on the temple’s official Facebook page said: “We regret to inform you that Guru Nanak Gurdwara suffered an arson attack this morning at 5am.” 

“Someone tried to burn down the front door. There’s a lot of internal smoke damage, and access to Gurdwara Sahib has been denied by police until smoke clears and it is safe to enter,” the post read.

Detective Inspector Clark Martin, of Police Scotland, said: “Fortunately, the fire was extinguished relatively quickly and no on was injured, but nevertheless we are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness.

A committee member at the temple said, “the Gurdwara Sahib enjoys a good relationship with the local community here and I’m quite surprised at this attack.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish government’s justice secretary, said he was “saddened at the news that a Sikh temple in Edinburgh was petrol-bombed”.

However, a spokesperson for Police Scotland insisted the exact cause of the blaze was still under investigation and refused to confirm that it was the result of a petrol bombing, the report said.