Toddler and five-year-old dragged from their homes and gang-raped

TWO young girls - a toddler and a five-year-old - have been dragged from their homes and gang-raped in New Delhi.

The two-year-old girl was playing outside her home when she was abducted by two men on a motorbike, according to local media.

Family members found the child lying unconscious and bleeding in a park three hours after she went missing during a power cut in a suburb of India's capital.

Police have detained several men but have not yet made any arrests in the incident, they said.

Meanwhile, cops are also questioning three men arrested in the gang-rape of the five-year-old - in a separate attack on the same night.

Both girls are in a stable condition in hospital, police said.

The rapes occurred a week after a four-year-old girl was found dumped near a railway track after being raped and slashed with a blade.

A series of recent attacks has renewed public fury and horror over India's inability to halt chronic violence against women and girls.

In December 2012, the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus led to a national outcry.

In response to that attack, the government doubled the maximum prison term for rape to 20 years, created special courts to prosecute cases more quickly, and made voyeurism and acid attacks specific crimes under the law.

India's National Crime Records Bureau says more than 2,000 girls and women were raped in New Delhi in 2014.