Washington, Mar 11 (Zee News): US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Islam of hating the western world.

Trump had previously called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

“I think Islam hates us,” Trump told Anderson Cooper on CNN, after the host asked him whether Islam was at war with the West.

“There is a tremendous hatred there. We have to get to the bottom of it.”

When asked whether Trump believed the hatred was in the Islamic religion itself, he replied: “You’re going to have to figure that out. You’ll get another Pulitzer.”

“We can’t allow people who have this hatred coming into the United States and of people who are not Muslim.”

The Republican presidential front-runner further said that “it’s very hard to separate” radical Islam from the mainstream practice of the religion.

“It’s very hard to define,” he said. “Because you don’t know who’s who.”

His comments have drawn criticism from his rivals.

The CNN-hosted debate took place at a crucial time, days before primary votes in Florida and Ohio that could catapult Trump even further despite an intense anti-Trump movement by establishment Republicans who are trying to deny him the party's presidential nomination.