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A Hindu temple in the US has been vandalised with several windows broken and the word “fear” painted on its wall, the second such incident in America's Washington state this month.
Vandals used bricks to break several windows and then painted the word “fear” on the wall of the Kent Hindu Temple late Thursday night.
Members who came to worship last night were greeted by shards of broken glass after vandals targeted the building.
"It was shocking to see the extent of the damage," Jugal Thakor, president of of the Sanatan Dharma Temple and Cultural Centre told Rediff.com.
He said temple authorities are not sure when the incident happened, but they think it happened after 8 pm on Thursday because when the temple priest and some volunteers arrived early morning on Friday they saw broken glasses all over.
Regular visitors at the temple said they were not sure if they were targeted for their faith or if neighbourhood teens were just causing trouble.
Both the FBI and Kent police have been informed about the incident.
This is the second such incident in recent days in the Washington state.
In the earlier incident on February 15, unidentified miscreants sprayed swastika and painted “Get Out” on one of the walls of the Bothell Hindu Temple in the Seattle Metropolitan area. Executive Director of the Washington state chapter of Council on American–Islamic Relations Arsalan Bukahari said many of these acts of aggression target smaller religious groups that some "bigots" think are Muslim.
“Because they choose to target certain places, we have a hunch that it might be biased motivated,” Bukahari was quoted as saying by the television station. "We are asking public to come forward with any information they might have," said Bukahari.
The Kent temple does not have any security cameras and information on the vandals remains elusive.
With inputs from Ritu Jha
Image: A temple had been previously vandalised in the Washington are after unidentified miscreants painted "get out" on one of the walls of the temple.