Two boys killed on Christmas Day - mother held

A German woman is being held on suspicion of killing her two young sons at their family home on Christmas Day, police said today.

They were reportedly found dead in the bath.

Police in the southern city of Regensburg said in a statement the 37-year-old woman from nearby Beratzhausen, who was not identified, had made an “extensive confession” to the killings.

Police said the grandparents of the two boys, ages 2 and 3, found them dead in the bath yesterday morning, and alerted police.

The children’s father was out at work at the time, and is not a suspect.

According to a post mortem, the children’s faces and necks showed signs of violence, the police statement said.

The mother was arrested, and police said the investigation would seek to determine whether she was suffering any psychological problems.

The incident comes after several previous killings prompted the country’s leaders to examine ways of improving child protection.