Washington, Aug 19 (IANS) US First Lady Michelle Obama will next week meet the families of the victims of the shootings in a Wisconsin Sikh gurdwara earlier this month, according to a community organisation.

Welcoming the kind gesture from the First Family, Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council, said: It is great to hear that First lady will be comforting the families devastated by the violence in the Sikh gurdwaras motivated by hate.

It is important that these families hear first hand how she and the president feel about this terrible tragedy, he said in an e-mailed statement.

It is indeed critical that the top leadership acts in such a dignified manner to heal the raw wounds of the families and the entire Sikh community, Singh said.

A visit by the first lady will be reassuring and heartening and it will be powerful symbol of President Obama embracing the Sikhs at this serious juncture, he said calling it not a Sikh tragedy but an American tragedy.

Six worshippers were killed and four others, including a police officer, were injured in the Aug 5 shooting at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara by an alleged white supremacist, Wade Michael Page, who later killed himself.

--Indo-Asian News Service

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