A one-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy have been stabbed to death at a home in east London.
Police were called to reports of a man and two children injured in Aldborough Road North in Ilford at about 17:30 BST on Sunday.
The girl was pronounced dead at the scene, while the boy died in hospital, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 40-year-old man was also taken to hospital with knife wounds. Police said all three were known to each other.
The Met has launched a murder investigation, but the force said it was not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Thomas Dodds, 78, who lives about 20 yards from the scene, described hearing a woman scream before police cars and ambulances arrived.
He said: “It sickens me, a young baby and a three-year-old. Someone who did that doesn’t have a heart, to put a knife into a baby.”
‘Nasty and serious’
A nurse who lives on the road and asked not to be named, said she “knew something nasty and serious” had happened when an air ambulance arrived.
She added: “I couldn’t sleep last night.
“I knew something terrible had happened but when it came out that two children had died, I was shaken.”
Jas Athwal, the leader of Redbridge Council, tweeted: “Earlier today there was an incident in Ilford. Two young children have passed away and an investigation is ongoing.
“My thoughts are with the family and wider community who are grieving this unspeakable tragedy.”
There have been 21 fatal stabbings in London so far this year – six of them are known to have happened in the borough of Redbridge.
On 20 January three men – aged 29, 30 and 37 – were stabbed to death on Elmstead Road in Seven Kings and 24-year-old Ricardo Fuller was also fatally stabbed outside a nightclub near Ilford High Road on 7 March.
