Children killed in multiple stabbing

An 11-month-old boy whose three young siblings were killed in a multiple stabbing was in a serious condition in hospital today after liver surgery, police said.

The baby’s 27-year-old mother also underwent surgery late Wednesday for stab wounds to her neck, and was in a serious condition.

Police in the eastern Australian city of Brisbane were called on Wednesday to an apartment complex where they found the two injured and a five-year-old boy, a two-year-old girl, and a four-month-old girl dead from stab wounds.

A man in his 30s was later found a short distance from the apartment with what were believed to be self-inflicted stab wounds, police said. Police were guarding the man, their prime suspect in the triple killing, in hospital and waiting to interview him.

Police said the man and woman were believed to be married and that the killings were the result of a dispute between them. Their identities and details of their relationship with the three dead children were not released.

Detective Inspector Gil Aspinall said doctors had told police that all the wounded were expected to survive.

The man recently arrived in Australia from New Zealand.