Body count rises to 7 in Cyprus 'serial killings' probe

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Cypriot authorities on Thursday uncovered another body in a widening probe into the murders of foreign women and girls after a suspected serial killer confessed to seven killings, police sources said.

A 35-year-old Greek Cypriot army officer appeared for a remand hearing in court in connection with the murder of a third Filipina woman who was reported missing last year.

Police sources, quoted by the state-run CNA news agency, said authorities were also looking into cases involving an Asian woman as well as that of a Romanian mother and her young daughter reported missing in 2016.

The suspect, who allegedly confessed to seven killings, earlier Thursday showed investigators the spot where he had dumped a body in a well at an army firing range outside the capital Nicosia.

As the case becomes more complex, Cypriot police are requesting the aid of experts from British law enforcement.

They include a coroner, a clinical psychiatrist, a forensic specialist and investigators experienced in multiple murder cases.

Local media have dubbed the case the island's "first serial killings" after two bodies, both believed to be Filipinas, were recovered from an abandoned mineshaft since April 14.

Cypriot police are also searching for the body of a missing six-year-old Filipina girl, daughter of one of the murdered women.