“Our thoughts are with the injured and the bereaved of the victims of this inconceivable massacre for which hardly any words can be found,” he wrote on Twitter in English.

He expressed his condolences to US President Joe Biden and “our American friends.”

Social Democrat leader Saskia Esken wrote on Twitter of “inconceivable grief and inconceivable rage” at the killings.

“Once again innocent people, yes: children! have become victims of a violent crime in the USA. They are also victims of those who, against all reason, prevent stricter regulation of gun ownership!”

“When will there finally be stricter gun laws?!” the leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, Britta Haßelmann, wrote.

An 18-year-old carried out the shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde near San Antonio. At least 19 children and two adults also died.