Girls aged 2, 5 'gang-raped' in New Delhi

Two Indian girls aged two-and-a-half and five years old were raped in separate incidents in New Delhi overnight, with at least one confirmed as a gang rape, police said Saturday.

The younger child was abducted late Friday by two men from a religious event in west Delhi's Nangloi area and sexually assaulted before being dumped in a park near her home, police and relatives said.

Pushpendra Kumar, west Delhi police chief, said they found the younger child bleeding profusely several hours after she went missing and that tests showed she had been raped at least once.

"We have launched a manhunt for the suspects. So far no one has been arrested," Kumar told AFP of the toddler's case.

In a separate incident, a five-year-old girl was gang-raped by three men in New Delhi's eastern Anand Vihar area on Friday night after being lured to a neighbour's house, police said.

"Her clothes were partially torn with blood spots all over them. Some locals saw her and she told them she was sexually assaulted," an officer from Anand Vihar police station told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Tests later confirmed she had been subjected to multiple assaults, he said.

Both girls are undergoing medical treatment but are believed to be out of danger, police said.