Singapore - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he is shocked and deeply saddened by the massacre of students in Pakistan by the Taleban.

He said Wednesday in posts on Twitter and Facebook that the carnage at a school in Peshawar came just a day after a hostage-taking incident in Australia, and was much worse in terms of casualties.

At least 130 people, most of them children, were killed when six gunmen stormed the army-run school in Peshawar on Tuesday. It was Pakistan's worst insurgent attack in years, police said Tuesday. Monday's 16-hour siege at a cafe in downtown Sydney, led to the deaths of three people, including the hostage-taker, a cafe manager and a customer.

"Singaporeans know Sydney better than Peshawar, so the Sydney incident feels closer to home. But when innocent children are brutally murdered like this our hearts go out to their families," Mr Lee wrote in the Facebook post.

"We all share a common humanity, whichever country we happen to live in."

His Twitter post says, "Our deepest condolences and sympathies to the families, and to the people of Pakistan. - LHL". The post was signed off with '-LHL', which denotes a personal post from the prime minister himself.