Stab baby 'critical but stable'

The injured boy and girl died within 15 minutes of each other

A six-month-old girl who was badly injured when her young brother and sister were stabbed to death has undergone surgery in hospital.

The five-year-old boy, girl aged four and the six-month-old, were found with stab wounds at a house in Carshalton, south London on Friday night.

The children's father, 39, and mother, 35, were arrested and are being questioned by police.

Officers described the girl's condition as "critical but stable".

Officers were called to the house, on a busy road in the quiet suburb, at 2230 BST on Friday.

Attempt to resuscitate

Murder squad detectives and the Child Abuse Investigation Command are now investigating the incident.

The injured boy and girl died within 15 minutes of each other shortly before midnight on Friday after being taken to hospital.

Sen Gupta, who lives opposite the house, said the family who lived there were Tamils from Sri Lanka and had moved into the house "less than a year ago".

Another nearby resident, John Bailey, described to the BBC how he saw paramedics attempting to resuscitate one of the children.

Carshalton is a fairly quiet suburb of London

"They put...the child in the back of the ambulance and it stayed there for about five or 10 minutes, and that never went away with sirens on either, so you thought the worst," he added.

Neighbour Carol Bradley told BBC News she used to see the children as they played outside their home.

She recalled: "They were lovely little children, you know, really sweet."

Post-mortem examinations are expected to be carried out on the two dead children over the weekend.

Police said they believed they knew their identities but officers were still waiting for confirmation that all family members had been informed of the incident.