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LONDON (AFP) — Police on Thursday were hunting for the killer or killers of two exchange students from France found brutally stabbed to death in their fire-stricken southeast London apartment.

The bodies of the Imperial College students -- from a university in Clermont-Ferrand in central France -- were discovered in the burning ground-floor flat in the New Cross neighbourhood on Sunday evening.

Murder squad detectives were to hold a news conference at 10:00 a.m. (0900 GMT) and reveal the victims' identities, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told AFP.

It was initially thought the pair, in their 20s, had died in the fire, but post-mortem examinations revealed that they had multiple stab wounds to the head, neck and chest.

"I am appealing for anyone who was in the area of Sterling Gardens at any time over the weekend, and who may have seen or heard anything suspicious near the address, to get in touch," said Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie.

"I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen anyone near the premises around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday."

A French embassy spokesman in London told AFP on Wednesday that the students' families had been informed, and were received on Wednesday by the French consul general in London.

The deaths come amid growing concern about knife crime and gang culture in London, which newly elected Conservative mayor Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair have vowed to tackle.

Police and the Home Office point out that overall knife crime in London is falling. But 17 teenagers have been knifed to death so far this year -- already more than half the total number for the last 12 months -- raising fears.

The most recent teenaged victim was the 16-year-old brother of a former television soap opera actress, who was stabbed outside a north London bar early Sunday.

The lawyer wife of former prime minister Tony Blair, Cherie Booth, told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that knife crime was more prevalent than figures suggested, and blades were being carried at a younger age.

On Monday evening, a 28-year-old woman was fatally stabbed by another woman near a burger joint in Peckham, just west of New Cross, in a case that remains under investigation.

Earlier this year, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith -- who until recently lived in Peckham, a centre for London's large west African community -- said she was too scared to walk the streets at night.

Peckham is the same neighbourhood where a 10-year-old Nigerian schoolboy, Damilola Taylor, died after being stabbed in the leg by teenagers in 2000, in a case that highlighted street crime in Britain's inner cities.

Blair and Johnson on Wednesday said 1,214 people had been arrested during a recent crackdown on knife crime. A total of 528 knives were recovered from 26,77 searches between May 19 and June 29.

A number of initiatives to tackle knife crime have been announced recently, including increased searches and installing portable "knife arches" -- airport-style metal detectors -- at busy transport hubs.

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