MANSEHRA: Police have arrested a man for trying to assault an eight-yearold girl in a forest in the Battal area here.

`We have taken the suspect into custody,` SSP Resham Jehangir told reporters here on Wednesday.

She said DPO Shafiullah Khan Gandapur had constituted a special police team to trace and arrest the suspect after the girl was found unconscious in a gorge in the Sharkolai area.

Ms Jehangir said the women, who had gone to fetch water from a local stream, found the girl and informed villagers. The police later showed up and took her to a nearby health centre where doctors confirmed an assaultbid.

`The accused lured the girl into the nearby forest before trying to assault her but as his bid failed, he injured her and abandoned her thinking she was dead,` the SSP said.

She said the police arrested the suspect from a house in the Sharkolai area.

SHO of the Battal police station Shujaat Hussain, who led the police team, said the girl`s mother had reported her daughter`s disappearance.

`The suspect has confessed to his crime and provided its details,` he said.

The police booked the suspect under Sections 376, 511 and 53 of the Child Protection Act, and sections 365 and 337 of the Pakistan Penal Code.