ORLANDO: A gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 50 people at a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday in the worst mass shooting in US history which President Barack Obama described as an act of terror and hate.
Police killed the shooter at the Pulse nightclub, who was identified as Omar S. Mateen, a 29-year-old Florida resident and US citizen.
A top US congressman said Mateen may have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group. US officials cautioned, however, that they had no immediate evidence of any direct connection with Islamic State or any other foreign extremist group, nor had they uncovered any contacts between the gunman and any such group.
“We know enough to say this was an act of terror, an act of hate,” Obama said in a speech.
53 people were wounded in the rampage. (Reuters)
