Orlando club gunman had ‘strong indications of radicalisation’

A gunman who pledged his allegiance to Islamic State before he massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in the US had “strong indications of radicalisation”, the FBI said.

Officers blasted a hole in the wall of the Pulse club in Orlando, Florida, in a desperate effort to save revellers as Omar Mateen held hostages in a toilet.

FBI director James Comey said Mateen had come to its attention twice before the shooting, and had been investigated for 10 months from May 2013 because he had made “inflammatory and contradictory” statements about ties to terrorist groups.