London - Scottish police said on Thursday they were treating the deaths of three children whose bodies were found at a house in Edinburgh as suspicious.
Emergency services were called on Wednesday afternoon after reports of a gas explosion and fire on the first floor of a three-storey townhouse in the Scottish capital.
Lothian and Borders officers said two boys and a girl of primary school age had died while an adult woman was found on ground outside the property. She was taken to hospital with unspecified injuries.
Detectives said the deaths were now being treated as suspicious.
"A criminal investigation is currently underway and nothing more can be said at this time into the circumstances which led to their deaths," a police spokesman said.
Officers said there had been no fault with the gas supply to the modern townhouse and firefighters had put out a small fire on the first floor of the house. - Reuters