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AP - Three boys aged between eight and nine were being held in a detention centre in the US state of Georgia on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl in the woods near a suburban apartment complex, officials said.
The alleged attack happened on Thursday and the girl's mother reported it to authorities on Monday, Acworth police Captain Wayne Dennard said.
"The victim said they were playing outdoors and the girl was forced into a wooded area where she was sexually assaulted, where one of the boys raped her," Dennard told The Associated Press.
The three boys - an eight-year-old and two nine-year-olds - were charged with rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment and sexual assault, Dennard said.
They were due in juvenile court on Monday afternoon. Their names were being withheld because of their ages.
Dennard would not comment further.
Prosecutors had not received the case report from police on Monday, nor had they decided whether to try the suspects as adults.
Acworth, 48km north-west of Atlanta along the shores of Lake Allatoona, is a town of about 17,000.
"This wouldn't be normal anywhere, but especially not Acworth," Dennard said.
