HOLYWOOD - The headmaster of a Northern Ireland school in which pupils suffered horrific burns when a man burst into the gym and opened fire with a flamethrower as pupils sat exams expressed his sympathy to the Dunblane school.
Mr John Young, principal of Sullivan Upper school in Holywood Co Down, said: "It's awful, my heart just bleeds for everybody at the school, for the parents, for the pupils and for the teachers."
He said the attack brought back memories of the attack in his school in 1994.
"I have some imperfect, incomplete understanding of some of their feelings. Words fail me, my heart goes out to them."
The Northern Ireland Education Minister, Mr Michael Ancram, sent a message of sympathy to his Scottish counterpart over the "dreadful" incident. He said: "I am sure that all teachers and the wider community in Northern Ireland would wish me to convey sincere condolences to all those who have suffered."