A nanny accused of killing and then decapitating a four-year old girl was not acting on her own, Russian prosecutors have said.

The 38-year old woman, from Uzbekistan, was spotted brandishing the child's head outside a subway station in Moscow on Monday morning.

Before a Moscow court sanctioned her arrest for two months on Wednesday, prosecutors told the court they believe that individuals who "incited" her to carry out the killing are still at large.

Investigators said the woman, who was the child's nanny, appeared to be mentally unstable.

Muscovites have been placing flowers and children's toys outside the subway station in memory of the little girl.

The motive for the slaying is not known.The child's parents are a middle-class couple, seemingly without government connections or influence.

The nanny's religion was not known but she wore a head covering and some witnesses said she shouted "Allahu akbar" while waving the bloody head.

In videos posted on Russian news websites, she was heard shouting "I am a terrorist" in Russian.

None of the main Russian television channels reported on the grisly scene.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman denied that the news was withheld at the request of the Kremlin or out of concerns that the killing could stoke ethnic tensions in a country with many Muslim citizens and migrant workers.