Cairo: Islamic State's Amaq news agency said on Sunday that the Islamist militant group was responsible for the shooting that killed at least 50 people in a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
"The armed attack that targeted a gay night club in the city of Orlando in the American state of Florida which left over 100 people dead or injured was carried out by an Islamic State fighter," Amaq said.
Police killed the shooter at the Pulse nightclub, who was identified as Omar S Mateen, a 29-year-old Florida resident and US citizen.
While a top US Congressman said Mateen may have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, officials cautioned, 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 from the White House. "And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people."
US officials have reached no definitive judgment on the killer's precise motives, Obama added. "We must spare no effort to determine what, if any, inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups," he said.
Fifty-three people were wounded in the rampage. It was the deadliest single US mass shooting incident, eclipsing the 2007 massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech university.
Pulse was crowded with some 350 revelers at a Latin music night when the attack happened.
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