Russian leader writes Sarkozy over 'barbaric' shooting

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has written to his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy expressing shock over the "barbaric" shootings at a Jewish school, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"I am shocked by the brutal crime at the school in Toulouse," the Kremlin quoted Medvedev as saying.

"This barbaric act confirms the importance of stepping up our joint fight against terrorism," whose victims are mostly civilians, said Medvedev, who will step down in favour of President-elect Vladimir Putin on May 7.

Children aged four, five and seven, and a 30-year-old religious education teacher, were shot dead as they arrived for classes at the Ozar Hatorah school in the southwestern French city on Monday.