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| Dallas shooting: Obama denies US divided after deaths | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| US President Barack Obama says the US is "not as divided as some have suggested" in the wake of fatal shootings involving African-Americans. | |
| Five white police officers were shot dead by a black man, Micah Johnson, during a protest rally on Thursday. | Five white police officers were shot dead by a black man, Micah Johnson, during a protest rally on Thursday. |
| The march was against the killing of black men by police. Two deaths this week have led to nationwide protests. | The march was against the killing of black men by police. Two deaths this week have led to nationwide protests. |
| Mr Obama said "it was just not true" the US was returning "to the situation in the 60s". | Mr Obama said "it was just not true" the US was returning "to the situation in the 60s". |
| His comments, on the side of a Nato summit in Warsaw, echoed those earlier of Vice-President Joe Biden, who said Americans had a duty to stand up against injustice, but that people also needed to support police. | His comments, on the side of a Nato summit in Warsaw, echoed those earlier of Vice-President Joe Biden, who said Americans had a duty to stand up against injustice, but that people also needed to support police. |
| Johnson, who was himself killed during the assault in Dallas, supported black militant groups who encouraged violence against police. | Johnson, who was himself killed during the assault in Dallas, supported black militant groups who encouraged violence against police. |
| Dallas police chief David Brown said Johnson had told a negotiator that he had wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers, because he was angry about the recent shootings of black men by police. | Dallas police chief David Brown said Johnson had told a negotiator that he had wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers, because he was angry about the recent shootings of black men by police. |
| The attack came after the police killings of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana. | The attack came after the police killings of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana. |
| Mr Obama said Americans of "all races, all backgrounds", including many of those who were protesting, were outraged by the Dallas killings. | |
| The unity shown in the wake of the attack was a strong foundation on which to build, he said. | |
| "When you start suggesting that, somehow, there is this enormous polarisation and we are back to the situation in the 60s, it's just not true," he said. | |
| "You are not seeing riots and you are not seeing police going after people who are protesting peacefully. | |
| "We have seen almost uniformly peaceful protests and we have seen, uniformly, police handling those protests with professionalism. | |
| "And so, as tough, as hard, as depressing as the loss of life this week, we have got a foundation to build on. We just have to have confidence that we can build on those better angels of our nature." | |
| He also repeated his call for urgent action on gun control, saying anyone who cared "about the safety of our police officers" had a duty to address the issue. | |
| As well as the five police officers killed, another seven were injured. Two civilians were also hurt. | |
| Johnson, 25, who officials say acted alone, was killed by remotely detonated explosives that were sent into a car park where he had taken refuge after the shootings. | |
| He was a member of the US Army Reserve from 2009 to 2015 who had served in Afghanistan. | |
| A number of gun attacks involving police officers and civilians have occurred in other parts of the US in the aftermath of the deaths in Minnesota and Louisiana. |