URGENT: Eleven officers shot, five dead in Dallas ‘sniper’ attack

Five officers have been killed after at least eleven officers were shot by snipers in downtown Dallas, Texas, in one of the worst mass police shootings in US history.

The shootings, carried out by two snipers from elevated positions, occurred at around 9 p.m. Thursday as a protest rally was drawing to an end. Hundreds of people had gathered downtown Dallas to protest the police shootings of two African-American men in as many days in Minnesota and Louisiana.

A large number of police vehicles and personnel gathered at the sprawling crime scene.

Police initially said that four officers had lost their lives in the gunfire. A fifth officer later died in hospital.