LUCKNOW/KATRA, India: Three detained suspects have confessed to the gang rape and slaying of two teenage girls who were found hanging from a tree in northern India last week, police said Sunday.

The search for two additional suspects continued Sunday for a fourth day, police officer Atul Saxena said.

India has a long history of tolerance for sexual violence. But the gang rape and killing of the 14- and 15-year-old cousins in Uttar Pradesh state caused outrage across the nation. The two girls, from an impoverished family with no toilets in their home, disappeared Tuesday night after going into fields to relieve themselves.

The three suspects detained so far in the attack are cousins in their 20s from an extended family, and they face murder and rape charges, crimes punishable by the death penalty. Authorities also have arrested two police officers and suspended another two for failing to investigate when the father of one of the teenagers reported the girls missing.

The father of one of two girls said Sunday he had refused compensation from the state government he blamed for failing to stop the horrendous crime.

He said he only wanted justice for the men who attacked his daughter and niece, aged 14 and 12, who were found hanging from a tree on Wednesday.

The father made the comments after a string of politicians descended on the dirt-poor village in Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh amid growing uproar over the attacks.