A man arrested over the murder of two nuns at their Mississippi home has confessed to the killings, a sheriff said.

A man cleaning his muzzle-loading rifle accidentally shot and killed a 15-year-old Amish girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away, an Ohio sheriff says.

The leader of an Amish group whose members are accused of going into the home of another Amish man and cutting his hair and beard has said it is a religious matter and police should not be involved.

Tornadoes ripped through the US Southeast, killing 10 people, including three children, and injuring more than a dozen others.

SIX children died when candles used to light a mobile home which had no electricity started a fire, authorities in the Mississippi town of Tchula said.