A Pakistani man alleged to have killed more than 100 children has made his first appearance in a Lahore courtroom.

Javed Iqbal, who faces the death penalty if convicted, was accompanied by three alleged accomplices and will be formally charged next week.

Mr Iqbal has been in custody since December, when he allegedly confessed to police.

Security was extremely tight outside the court where relatives of some of the alleged victims had gathered.

They shouted slogans as Mr Iqbal was taken into court while some 100 policemen cordoned off the building.

Confession

Reports say police submitted 122 items of evidence against Mr Iqbal and his accomplices.

The BBC's Shahid Malik in Lahore says Mr Iqbal briefly addressed the court, repeating his earlier confession in which he admitted carrying out the murders.

He said he knew he was guilty and would accept whatever punishment the court handed out to him.

Police were first alerted to the crimes when Mr Iqbal wrote a letter in which he confessed to sexually abusing and then murdering the children, all boys aged between six and 16.

The letter directed officers to Mr Iqbal's house, where they found the pictures and clothes of his victims.

Also found were two barrels of acid - allegedly used to dispose of the remains.

Mr Iqbal was seized a month later, in December, after walking into the Lahore offices of Pakistan's largest Urdu language newspaper, the Jang, offering to turn himself in.

Earlier, the police officer in charge of the case, Masood Aziz, told the BBC that all three of Mr Iqbal's alleged accomplices were boys under 18.

Many legal experts are waiting to see if the boys will be exempt from criminal liability because they are minors.