DHAKA: The ex-wife of a man who opened fire on a gay nightclub in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday has said he was ‘mentally unstable’ and ‘disturbed’.

Omar Mateen killed 50 people and wounded 53 more in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history, before being shot dead by police.

The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has said it was behind the attack, but the extent of its involvement is not clear, reports the BBC.

A security company that Mateen used to work for said he was vetted twice.

The checks in 2007 and 2013 did not reveal anything of concern, G4S said, and Mateen had carried a gun as part of his job.

Sitora Yusufiy lived with Mateen for four months in 2009. She said her family ‘rescued’ her from the relationship when they became aware that he was being physically abusive.

He beat her up regularly during their short-lived marriage for trivial things like not doing laundry, she said.

‘When he would get in his tempers, he would express hate toward everything. He was mentally unstable and mentally ill: that’s the only explanation that I could give.’

BDST: 1313 HRS, JUN 13, 2016
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**50 killed in Florida gay nightclub shooting