Lakhimpur, Aug 22 (IANS): A six-year-old girl was gang-raped and murdered by two minor brothers in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district, police said on Thursday.

The victim, a student of Class 1, had gone missing on Tuesday afternoon. She was last seen playing near the house of the accused. When the girl did not return home, her family tried to search for her and later approached the police, who launched a massive manhunt.

Kheri Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonam, said the search operation was carried on throughout the night.

The girl's body was found on Wednesday after the mother of the accused confessed to the police that she had helped her sons dump the body when she found they had strangled her to death.

"The victim's body was recovered some 200 metres from the accused's house. The accused told us they had lured the girl into their house with a candy," said Station House Officer Phoolbehad Police Station, Shyam Narain Singh.

The accused, aged 15 and 12 years, are Dalits and school dropouts. While their parents are labourers, they are currently working as rag pickers. The accused have confessed to having sexually assaulted the minor girl.

Police have taken the brothers and their mother into custody and have registered an FIR against all three, under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.