A 22-year-old female teacher suspected of carrying out abuse at a nursery school -Beijing Police

Beijing police are holding a 22-year-old female teacher suspected of carrying out abuse at a nursery school.

Officers are probing claims children at the nursery - run by RYB Education Inc - were pricked with needles, fed pills and stripped naked.

At least eight children attending the RYB Education pre-school in the upscale Chaoyang district are said to have been injected with unknown substances.

RYB Education issued a statement on Thursday saying it was co-operating with police and would "Not shake off the responsibility" if any wronging was found.

Parents told local media they had discovered needle marks on their children's bodies and that their children were fed pills or syrup before their naptime.

The case has sparked an intense outcry and reignited anxieties over childcare standards in China, which has seen other cases of abuse at nurseries in recent years.

Last year four teachers at a RYB nursery in Jilin province were jailed for abuse, also involving giving injections to children.