Bareilly (UP): The existence of a serial killer has triggered panic in a rural area of Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly, where nine women of the same age have been found murdered in almost identical circumstances over the past 13 months, media reports said.

According to police officials, all the victims were strangled, with many being killed using their own sarees.

Last year, eight women aged between 40 and 65 were murdered in the Shahi, Sheeshgarh, and Shergarh police station areas, which are adjacent to one another.

The bodies were discovered in sugarcane fields. There clothes were messed, but there were no indications of sexual assault.

A common factor among the cases is that most of the victims were strangled with the sarees they were wearing.

The murders took place in a pattern: three in June, followed by one each in July, August, and October, and two in November.

After the eighth murder, the police deployed 300 more policemen divided in 14 teams of uniformed and plainclothes officials.

Police are not yet sure if there are one or more killers behind the murders.

After speaking to several people in the areas where the murders occurred, the police have now released sketches along with three phone numbers--9554402549 and 9258256969 for the office of the Superintendent of Police (South), Bareilly.

Police have set up checkpoints and issued advisories in villages, urging people to remain alert.