Egypt's Interior Ministry said that three children were killed in a fire, before their mother left them at the side of a road where they were found in Giza last week. The ministry’s statement adds that the suspects in the incident have been arrested.
The three decomposing bodies were found on 10 July in Talbiya, Giza, wrapped in two plastic bags and a carpet and dumped at the side of a road. Their photographs were widely circulated online, raising eyebrows.
Security investigations reveal that the 36-year-old mother of the three children, aged 5, 4 and 2 years old, dumped their bodies after she returned home to find them killed by a fire that broke out in one of the rooms of the flat where she lives in.
The ministry said on Sunday that the bodies of the children bore burn marks and that the flat had signs of a fire in one of the rooms, sharing photos of its charred floor and ceiling.
"When she returned to the apartment at 6 am, she discovered a fire in one of the rooms and found that the three children were dead. She put them in the bags and the carpet and abandoned them where they were found," the ministry said in a statement published on its official Facebook page.
The mother, her flatmate and a nine-year-old girl transported the bodies in a tuk-tuk to the site where they were found.
Forensic evidence revealed that the fire was caused by flames from a match that quickly licked around flammable items of the room. No traces of fire accelerants were found, the ministry said.
The mother, her female flatmate and the latter's husband were all arrested and referred to prosecutors.
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