A nine-year-old girl has been found dead in woods just hours after being abducted from a play area close to her home in Calais, northern France.

French media quoted police sources saying the child, named locally as Chloe, had been raped and strangled.

A 38-year-old Polish national, recently released from prison, is being held by police over the murder, reports say.

The mayor of Calais said the town was in mourning and called for a memorial march on Thursday evening.

The flags on the town hall were being flown at half-mast, Natacha Bouchart said on Facebook.

Eyewitnesses said a man seized the girl at about 15:30 local time (13:30 GMT) on Wednesday as she was playing with a friend near her home in the port town.

Her mother told French broadcaster BFMTV that she had left her alone for five minutes to change her two younger children, and returned to see the attacker forcing her daughter into a car.

Officers tracked down a red car with Polish number plates to the Dubrulle forest in the north of the town, Ms Bouchart told reporters.

The body of the girl was found nearby at about 17:15 local time. The man believed to be her attacker was apparently found close to the crime scene.

The suspect has a history of criminal violence and served prison sentences in both France and Poland, according to France's Le Parisien.

He was reportedly released just months ago after serving a six-year sentence. One of his victims, a 78-year-old woman, told Le Parisien she had been promised by police that he had been expelled to Poland.
(BBC)