Image copyright AP Image caption Dylann Roof appeared in court via a video link last month to hear the initial charges against him

The man accused of killing nine black churchgoers in the US has been charged with three additional counts of attempted murder.

Dylann Roof, 21, already faced nine counts of murder and one weapons possession charge for the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, on 17 June.

The victims were shot and killed after a Bible study meeting.

The attempted murder charges relate to three people who were present during the attack but survived.

A woman and a small child survived by playing dead. Mr Roof left a third woman alive to tell others about the crime.

Governor Nikki Haley has said Mr Roof should face the death penalty.

Mr Roof reportedly sat with the group for nearly an hour before he pulled out his handgun and started shooting.

One survivor recalled him saying: "You all rape women and you're taking over our country."

After the attack, a friend of Mr Roof's said he had previously complained that "blacks were taking over the world" and "someone needed to do something about it for the white race".

Mr Roof was arrested the day after the shooting more than 200 miles away in North Carolina and then flown back to Charleston.

He is next expected in court in October.