Police in Pakistan have arrested a man suspected to be a serial killer responsible for the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl.
Police found Zainab Ansari's body in a garbage dumpster in Kasur district near the eastern city of Lahore last week, four days after she was reported missing.
Residents of the area have said the murder was the 12th such incident in a year, setting off fears of a serial rapist killer on the loose.
Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab province, where Kasur is located, said the arrested man had confessed to Zainab's murder and his DNA matched samples found on her body.
Sharif, addressing the media, identified Imran Ali, 24, of Kasur, as the killer of Zainab.
Regional police officer Zulfiqar Hameed told Reuters the suspect was one of Zainab's neighbours. CCTV footage of the day she was abducted showed her walking off calmly with a man identified as her kidnapper.
A police official who asked not to be named said the accused had confessed to multiple murders and that he was suspected of raping and killing at least seven girls.
Sharif said in his statement that 1,150 DNA samples were collected and matched with samples taken from Zainab's body.
Two people were killed in Kasur the day after Zainab's body was recovered when police fired at hundreds of angry protesters, who said negligence on the part of the authorities was behind the repeated killings.
A total of 1764 cases of child abuse were reported across Pakistan in the first six months of 2017, according to Sahil, an organisation that works on child protection.
In 2016, the total number of reported child abuse cases was 4139, or around 11 new cases reported per day.
