Police say 11-year-old boy involved in murder of young German girl

An 11-year-old boy is suspected to have been involved in the murder of a 10-year-old girl, whose body was found this week at a child welfare centre in the south of Germany, investigators said on Friday.

The results of the forensics "point to the involvement of an 11-year-old boy from the institution in Wunsiedel," the police and public prosecutor's office announced on Friday.

"As the 11-year-old boy is not of criminal age, he was placed in a secure facility as a preventive measure," they added.

The girl had been living in the youth welfare facility located around 15 kilometres from the border with the Czech Republic.

Staff found her body in one of its rooms on Tuesday. A emergency medical team sent to the scene confirmed that she was dead.

The public prosecutor's office had announced on Thursday that they assumed it was a homicide.

Investigators had immediately secured evidence at the scene of the crime and handed it over to the police for evaluation, the statement continued.

According to the police, the 11-year-old had not yet undergone a hearing. They said further measures would be taken in close cooperation with the youth authorities.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann thanked the investigators for their "meticulous" work and said the next task would be to "clarify the exact background of this horrific act."

According to the management, about 90 children and young adults between the ages of 3 and 19 are cared for in the Wunsiedel centre, which has around 90 staff and offers supplementary education.