The bodies of three babies have been found in a basement freezer in the town of Wenden, in western Germany, prosecutors have said.

A woman believed to be the mother of the three has been arrested, a state prosecutor's office spokesman said.

The three were not stillborn, police said, but the cause of death and the infants' ages have not been released.

There have been several similar cases in Germany recently, including a woman jailed for killing her eight children.

The babies appeared to have died shortly after birth and were in the freezer wrapped in plastic bags, the prosecutor's office said.

Officials said a couple with three children aged 18 to 24 lived at the house.

The dead babies were discovered late on Sunday after police received information from one of the family members and searched the house, German media have reported.

It is not the first such case in Germany.

Two years ago, the body of a dead toddler was found in the fridge of his drug-addicted parents in the northern city of Bremen.

Also in 2006, a woman in eastern Germany was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her babies.

Published on website of BBC NEWS