Mitt Romney twice confused the word “Sikh” with “sheikh” while paying tribute to the Wisconsin temple shooting victims in the latest gaffe for the Republican presidential candidate.

Speaking at a fundraising event in Des Moines, Mr Romney twice mistakenly used the word “sheikh”, denoting an Arab leader, rather than “Sikh”, the religion of the six people gunned down by a neo-Nazi on Sunday.

“I was in Chicago earlier today. We had a moment of silence in honour of the people who lost their lives at that sheikh temple,” he said.

“I noted that it was a tragedy for many, many reasons. Among them are the fact that people, the sheikh people are among the most peaceable and loving individuals you can imagine, as is their faith.”

Rick Gorka, Mr Romney’s spokesman, defended the Republican candidate after his international tour last week of gaffes that has damaged his standing.

“He misspoke. It was the end of the day. He mispronounced similar sounding words. He was clearly referring to the tragedy in Wisconsin. You clearly heard him talk about it earlier today in Chicago,” he said.

Mr Romney’s tour to Europe last week was hit by series of gaffes including a diplomatic spat in Britain after he cast doubt over London’s readiness to host the Olympics.----

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9461305/Mitt-Romney-confuses-Sikh-with-sheikh-while-paying-tribute-to-Wisconsin-temple-shootings.html