Barack Obama has told Americans the time is approaching when they will have to face up to their country's record on gun crime.

The US President was speaking after nine worshippers at a black church in South Carolina were shot dead by a young white man.

The suspect, Dylann Roof, an admirer of white supremacist regimes, was arrested in a neighbouring state after fleeing the scene.

"I've had to make statements like this too many times," Mr Obama said, referring to a series of mass murders in the United States in recent years.

"Once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."

"It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it," he added.

Mr Obama has repeatedly called for a review of US gun laws but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears in Washington.

Roof, 21, was taken into custody in Shelby, North Carolina, after being stopped by police who were tipped off by a member of the public.

A manhunt had earlier been launched for a white male who is thought to have sat with worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in downtown Charleston for an hour before opening fire.

County Coroner Rae Wooten said the killer was accepted by the group before becoming aggressive and violent.

A relative of Clementa Pinckney, a pastor and state senator who was killed in the massacre, said she was told by one of the survivors that the gunman had said: "You rape our women and you're taking over our country and you have to go."

He is said to have reloaded his weapon five times.

"Heart and soul of Carolina is broken"

Six women and three men were killed in the attack. Eight people died at the scene, while the ninth victim died later in hospital. Three people survived.

The other victims have been named as Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and DePayne Doctor, 49.

Mr Obama, who knew Mr Pinckney, said the outpouring of "strength and unity" from the community showed the "purveyors of hatred" can be overcome.

A tearful Nikki Haley, the state's governor, said the "heart and soul of Carolina is broken", while Charleston mayor Joseph P Riley Jr called the shooting "pure concentrated evil".

A man who identified himself as Roof's uncle said he had recently been given a handgun as a birthday present by his father.

Roof was known to police after being charged with a drugs offence in March and trespassing a month later.

Joseph Meek Jr, a friend, told the Associated Press news agency that Roof had claimed black people were taking over the world and something needed to be done for the white race.

Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks white supremacist organisations, said Roof appeared to be a "disaffected white supremacist" based on his Facebook page.

A photograph on the page shows him wearing a jacket adorned with the flags of Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.

Police are treating the Charleston killings as a "hate crime".