LAHORE: A woman and her two young children were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their house in Multan on Monday.

Police said Tanveer Akhtar, 45, a native of Kamalia, her son Fakhar Ali, 23, and daughter Mahwish, 20, had been living in a rented house in the Jhanderanwala locality in the Basti Malook police area for the last five years. All three of them were working in a private factory, Volka Foods. The family members were found dead at their house when their landlord went there to collect rent.

There was a foul smell in the area.

The landlord told police that he had collected rent of the house on March 10 and went there to collect the rent for April after his phone calls went unanswered. Police found an axe smeared with blood. The bodies were shifted to the morgue for post-mortem.

Police said the bodies were beginning to decay and it appeared that the incident happened weeks back.

Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Rana Mansoor told Dawn the exact cause of death was not known yet and the post-mortem would reveal it. He said the initial findings suggested that the woman and her young children were murdered. He said the woman had married twice and got divorce from her both husbands.