South Carolina approves removal of Confederate flag from State Capitol

The House of Representatives of the US state of South Carolina approved on Thursday a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the State Capitol.

Early Thursday morning, after 13 hours of debate, the lower house approved the bill With 94 votes in favour and 20 against, Efe news agency reported.

The Senate had already passed the bill on Tuesday with 36 votes in favour and only three against it.

The bill is now pending approval of Republican Governor Nikki Haley, who supports it and has promised to sign as soon as it reaches her.

The Confederate flag became a point of controversy in the state, following a fatal shooting in Charleston, which led to the deaths of nine people in an Afro-American church.

Dylann Roof, the shooter who aimed to unleash a "race war", appears in a few photographs with the Confederate flag.

The tragic incident led to a debate in several southern states regarding flying the Confederate flag in public buildings.

The Confederate flag was adopted by secessionist states of the Confederation who favoured slavery, against the northern states of the Union during the American Civil War.