The deaths of three young children in an explosion are being treated as suspicious, police said.
The primary school children were found after a blast in a block of flats in Edinburgh's Slateford Road at around 3pm.
It was thought the children died in a gas explosion but Lothian and Borders Police said there was no fault with the supply.
A police spokesman said: "A criminal investigation is currently under way and nothing more can be said at this time into the circumstances which led to their deaths."
A woman, believed to be the children's mother, is being treated in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Neighbours said she had jumped from the third floor balcony of the modern terrace block. They described hearing the noise of a blast and the smell of gas. Neighbour Fattah Hamami, 19, said: "I think she dropped herself from the third-floor balcony."
Police said they are speaking to the children's father, who has been traced to Aberdeen, but said he is not being interviewed as a suspect.
Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue also extinguished what was described as a "small fire" on the first floor of the building.
A police source was unable to confirm reports the children had died before the blast.
The post-mortem examinations are expected to take place on Thursday.
