Japanese schoolgirl, 16, arrested on suspicion of murdering and dismembering classmate

The unnamed suspect has allegedly admitted to killing the fellow student, telling police that she acted alone

The suspect, who at 16-years-old old is granted anonymity for being a minor, told police she acted alone and was arrested after confessing. File (AFP/Getty)

A teenage girl has been arrested after allegedly killing and dismembering a fellow high school pupil.

The unnamed suspect has admitted attacking 15-year-old Aiwa Matsuo with a blunt metal object before strangling her and severing her head and hands, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

She was arrested in the city of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, south-west Japan on Sunday.

Matsuo was a first year student, Kyodo News Agency reports, whose body was found on a bed in the suspect’s condominium early on Sunday.

The victim had reportedly left on Saturday afternoon to meet friends but was declared missing by her parents that evening when she failed to return home.

The suspect, who at 16-years-old old is granted anonymity for being a minor, told police she acted alone and was arrested after confessing.

She had lived away from her parents, though in the same city.

Ten years ago, the same city was host to a similar crime when an 11-year-old girl led a fellow elementary schoolchild to an empty classroom during the lunch period, slit her neck and arms and left her to bleed to death.

Immediately after the 2004 murder, teachers and authorities tried to help students understand the sanctity of life, the Japan Times reports.

“I feel so sad and frustrated. We have kept calling attention to the value of life, but the message has not been delivered,” the principal of the girls’ high school said.