US Election 2016: Donald Trump tells CNN TV interviewer 'Islam hates us'

US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has stated in an interview 'Islam hates us' and warned people with that hate should not be allowed into the country.

In echoes of his December 2015 statement that there should be a temporary ban issued on Muslims entering America, Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper that the religion was partly defined by 'tremendous hatred'. In the 9 March interview, in response to the question 'Is Islam at war with the West', Trump said: "I think Islam hates us. There is something there, there is a tremendous hatred there, and we have to get to the bottom of it. There is an unbelievable hatred of us."

"In Islam itself?" Cooper asked Trump. "You're going to have to figure that out, but there is a tremendous hatred and we have to be very vigilant, we have to be very careful and we can't allow people coming into this country who have this hatred of the United States and of people that are now Muslim," Trump said.

Cooper rephrased the question, asking Trump, "The question is is there a war between the West and radical Islam or is it between the West and Islam itself?"

"Well it's radical but it's very hard to define, it's very hard to separate because you don't know who's who," Trump replied.

The GOP candidate is currently leading the Republican race, and has made similar sweeping statements that angered the Mexican community, stating that he would build a wall between the two countries and referring to Mexicans as rapists and criminals.