Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS): The beheaded bodies of two children, who are brothers, was found Sunday in an Uttar Pradesh village, police said Monday.

The incident occurred in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Pasgawan village, about 120 km from here.

The brothers, Mohit Dixit (10) and Rochak (8), went missing last week. After searching for them in nearby areas, family members lodged complaint with the police Feb 15.

Vishwanath Yadav, a police official at Pasgawan, told IANS that the boys' severed heads were found 50 metres away from the crime spot. The bodies also bore injury marks on their stomachs.

"As of now we have not been able to ascertain the reason for the killings, but the family is being asked to zero in on any animosity to give us further leads," the official said.

Locals staged a protest and disrupted traffic on the Lucknow-Sitapur highway.

Jitin Prasada, union minister of state for human resource development, met the bereaved family and assured victims' father Rupendra Kumar Dixit that the killers would be brought to justice.