Arrested man who burned down house, killed wife and 5 children

A Japanese man suspected of stabbing his daughter to death has confessed to burning down the house, killing his wife and four other children.

Hirobumi Komatsu, 32, confessed to setting fire to the house in Hitachi city, about 100km north of Tokyo, AFP quoted Deputy Police Chief Mitsuru Kaneko as saying today. Police discovered five bodies in the apartment after the fire was extinguished early this morning.

A baby girl was found in critical condition with stab wounds and later died in hospital.

The five children killed were a girl and four boys aged between three and 11, while the sixth victim was their mother, police said, quoting the suspect. "We learned about the incident when the man reported it to the police station," Kaneko said.

The father may also face arson charges. The deaths of the five victims are under investigation, said Masataka Suzuki, another senior police official. "We are investigating whether the other five deaths were caused by fire or something else."

According to VNE