Scotland shares the "shock and deep sadness" being felt as a result of the school massacre in Conneticut, the First Minister said.
Alex Salmond has written to US President Barack Obama in the wake of the attack in Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, in which 20 children and six teachers were killed.
The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, also killed his mother in her home before committing suicide.
In his letter to the US president, Mr Salmond said: "Scotland shares the shock and deep sadness of people across the world at the senseless loss of innocent lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
"It is impossible to comprehend how the children, along with their teachers, could have been so cruelly taken from their loved ones.
"All the victims, their grieving relatives and colleagues and the entire community of Newtown are in the thoughts and prayers of people across Scotland.
"I send them my deepest condolences."
The deaths of the youngsters and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary comes more than 16 years after the Dunblane school shooting, in which Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher.
