Obama blasts ‘vicious’ attack on Dallas police

US President Barack Obama has condemned the “vicious, calculated and despicable attack” on law enforcement in Dallas, Texas, which left five officers dead.

“We are horrified by these events, we stand by the police department in Dallas,” Obama said at a news conference Friday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland.

The president said that the availability of automatic weapons in the United States makes such attacks more likely.

“We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic. And in the days ahead we are going to have to consider those realities as well. In the meantime our focus is on the victims and their families,” Obama stated.

Five officers were killed and six others wounded by snipers in a planned ambush in downtown Dallas Thursday night as an anti-police protest was coming to an end.

Obama said the attack, the worst police shootings in US history, was a “wrenching reminder of the sacrifices police make for us.”

“Police in Dallas were on duty doing their jobs, keeping people safe, during peaceful protests,” he added.

Obama made the statement a day after he made a passionate plea for police reform in reaction to fatal shootings of two African-American men by police in a span of two days.

Philando Castile, 32, was killed during a traffic stop Wednesday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling, 37, was shot to death outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the day before.

Protesters gathered across the US on Thursday to express outrage over the killings.

Obama said Friday he had spoken with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings “to convey the deepest condolences of the American people.”

“I told him that the federal government will provide whatever assistance Dallas may need as it deals with this tremendous tragedy.”

Dallas police said three suspects were in custody and a fourth shot and killed himself during a standoff with law enforcement officers.

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