MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A Mexican soldier is suspected of strangling his six children and beating his wife to death before hanging himself, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities found the woman on a bed and the six children - four boys and two girls - spread out on a mat inside the house in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec at dawn, prosecutors said.

The man's body was hanging by a rope out a window.

"The main line of investigation indicates that the adult male was responsible for the deaths of the children and the woman and later committed suicide," said the statement.

Police said the children died of asphyxiation and that the woman had been beaten in the abdomen, chest and head.

Local media reports said the man was a soldier who committed the crime on Tuesday night after arriving home and gathering his family in the living room.