Cyprus 'serial killings' spark horror, anger at police

Seven foreign women and girls murdered, some dumped in a toxic lake -- the "first serial killings" in Cyprus have provoked horror and sparked accusations of police racism.

Since mid-April, the Mediterranean island's press has slammed official failings over the murders, which 35-year-old army officer Nicos Metaxas has allegedly confessed to carrying out.

Andreas Kapardis, a criminologist and emeritus professor at the University of Cyprus, said the killings were first such case since the island won its independence in 1960.

"For Cypriots, discovering a serial murderer in their own society is... unique," he said.

The victims were four Filipinas, including a mother and her six-year-old daughter, a Romanian woman and her eight-year-old daughter, and a woman reported to be Nepalese.

All the women had been reported missing, but police failed to follow up the cases, allowing the alleged killer to carry on for nearly three years.

"The more the investigation advanced, the more it became clear ..