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Charleston — President Barack Obama was yesterday set to deliver a eulogy for the chief pastor gunned down in an apparent racially-motivated attack that shocked the nation.

Obama will deliver the remarks for pastor Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down along with eight other African Americans during Bible study in a historic church nine days ago.

The shooting was allegedly carried out by Dylann Roof, aged 21, a white supremacist.

The carnage renewed discussions of racism and hate groups in America and led to a furor over the controversial Confederate flag, which is present throughout the south but that many see as a symbol of racism.

For Obama, the shooting touched a particular nerve because it overlapped with two thorny issues in his presidency: gun control, which he never managed to overhaul, and racial divides.

Soon after the killings, a frustrated and angry Obama condemned the country’s lack of action over mass shootings. Several thousand people, including Vice President Joe Biden, were expected at the ceremony at a university in Charleston near the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where the shooting took place. — AFP