BEIJING - President Hu Jintao on Saturday sent a message of condolences to US President Barak Obama following the shooting incident at an elementary school in Newtown in the US state of Connecticut on Friday.

Hu expressed profound sympathy with and faithful solicitude to the US government and its people over the school shooting tragedy, and offered condolences to the victims.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also offered condolences to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the shooting.

A gunman slaughtered 28 people, including 20 children, at an elementary school in Newtown. The shooting is the second most deadly in the US history, only after the Virginia Tech Massacre in April 2007, which claimed 33 lives.

Latest develepment:

Police find 'good evidence' on motive for Connecticut school

Identities of Connecticut shooting victims

12?girls, 8 boys, 6 women killed in Connecticut school shooting

Connecticut massacre victims shot multiple times

Reactions on US gun control:

Obama urges solidarity as America mourns shooting victims

Obama: US needs to take actions to prevent shooting

School massacre pressures Obama on US gun control

Condolences:

UN chief mourns victims of US school shooting

EU leaders shocked by US school shooting

Background:

Major school shootings in US since 1999