Fear and public outrage are growing in Pakistan as the search continues for a man who claims to have killed 100 boys in the past year.
Police in Lahore say they have no idea as to the whereabouts of the suspected serial killer.
The remains of three children were found in a barrel of acid in the house of the man who says he committed the murders. Mr Javed Iqbal (40), a known childmolester, wrote a note claiming to have carried out the killings and threatening to drown himself before disappearing from his rented house in a poor area of the city.
Police, who have searched the nearby Ravi river, say there is no evidence that Mr Iqbal has committed suicide.
Experts consulted by the Pakistani authorities say psychopathic serial killers are rarely suicidal and tend to continue until caught. Some are said to derive perverse pleasure from advertising their crimes.
A few weeks ago Mr Iqbal told a police officer that he had killed more than 100 street children, but the officer laughed off his claim. Mr Iqbal has had three complaints lodged against him for sodomy dating from 1990, but has never been convicted of a crime.
In a letter sent to Lahore's police chief and a local newspaper, Mr Iqbal said he had murdered beggars and runaways after being wrongly picked up by police and beaten while in custody.
"I have killed 100 children and put their bodies in acid containers and later disposed of the undissolved body parts," the letter read.
He also sent police a 32-page diary with the names and addresses of dozens of children. It contained photographs of more than 50 children and cut-outs of newspaper advertisements of missing children.
Pakistani police say they are holding seven people, including Mr Iqbal's three brothers, a brother-in-law, friends and a policeman for interrogation. They say that while there is strong evidence to suggest Mr Iqbal's murder claims are true, it is not yet possible to determine the number of children killed.
Empty alcohol bottles, gas masks and jars of nitric acid were recovered from the suspect's three-bedroom house.
At Ravi Road police station the distraught parents of missing children have been going through photographs of missing children and children's clothing found at the suspect's home.
By yesterday, the parents of more than 65 missing boys had identified photos and items of clothing belonging to their children.
"My God, it's my boys," sobbed one woman, Ms Sophia Satar, clutching a small white shirt to her breast. "He went out in the afternoon and never returned," she said of her 12-year old son, Imran, who disappeared in October. Mr Mohammed Hanif and his wife Haleema fainted after spotting pictures of their two sons, Ejaz (14) and Haji Mustafa (11).
Pakistani newspapers have echoed the criticism of Punjab's provincial governor, Mr Mohammed Safdar, who has accused police of failing to follow up reports about the children's disappearance.
The Punjabi authorities have offered a one million rupee (£15,000) reward for information leading to Mr Iqbal's capture.
Many parents in Lahore are not sending their children to school or allowing them to play in public parks.