Police have confirmed that 50 people were killed and 53 others injured in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in the United States.
Reports suggested that the gunman called 911 before the shooting and claimed to have sworn his allegiance to the Islamic State.
However, Police authorities believed that the killings were most likely ideologically motivated.
In his reaction, President Barack Obama said Americans were bonded in grief, outrage and “resolve to defend our people”, after “an act of terror and an act of hate”.
The gunman, named by officials as Omar Mateen, of Afghan descent, was said to have come from the town of Port St. Lucie.
Police disclosed that he was not on a terrorism watch list, but was being investigated for an unrelated criminal act.
In the meantime, a state of emergency has been declared across the city of Orlando to allow law enforcement officials to focus on investigation of the incident termed ‘the worst mass shooting in US’ history.
