BERLIN (AP)– Police in eastern Germany say four attack dogs have bitten a 3-year-old to death and badly injured the girl's great-grandmother, who tried to rescue her.

Police spokeswoman Jeanette Schwahn-Witzenhausen said on Saturday that prosecutors opened an investigation for negligent homicide against the dogs' owner, the girl's aunt.
The great-grandmother, 70, and the girl were visiting the aunt in her house in Oldisleben-Sachsenburg in Thuringia state on Friday evening when the dogs, Staffordshire bull terriers, attacked the girl.
Police said only the aunt, who rushed to the scene moments later, was able to stop the dogs. They were later killed by the authorities.
All rescue attempts failed and the girl died on the scene.