Berlin  - Police were investigating Thursday how the body parts of four babies came to be in a Berlin flat, a justice department spokesman.

The remains were found by a 49-year-old friend of the mother who was cleaning out the apartment in the wake of the woman's suicide in July.

A police murder squad began investigations as doctors conducted a post-mortem to determine how the babies died.

The man brought the remains to a police station on Wednesday evening. dpa