Three Chinese citizens have been confirmed killed in a city bordering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), but authorities stopped short of verifying media reports identifying DPRK army deserters as suspects.

Police are investigating the bloodshed involving a 55-year-old man surnamed Zhao, his 26-year-old daughter and another man surnamed Sun, 67, the Helong city government in Northeast China's Jilin province said on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social networking site, on Wednesday.

The incident was reported to police early in the morning of last Saturday, echoing a report by Republic of Korea broadcaster KBS pinpointing the perpetrators as three soldiers fleeing the DPRK.

If the KBS report is confirmed, it would be the third deadly attack in the previously lesser-known town of Helong, which has led to public panic over the security situation.

A runaway soldier from the DPRK killed four Chinese citizens during a robbery in the village of Nanping, north of the Tumen River overlooking the DPRK's North Hamkyong province, on Dec 27, prompting Beijing to lodge a diplomatic protest to Pyongyang.

On Sept 3, a DPRK citizen crossed the border and killed a Chinese family of three in the same village.