WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The father of an 8-year-old girlwho was killed along with her best friend admitted to authorities in the US state of Illinois Wednesday that he stabbed the girls todeath, television networks said.

    Jerry Hobbs, 34, said he was angry at her daughter, Laura Hobbs,for breaking curfew, authorities said. He tracked her and her bestfriend Krystal Tobias in a wooded park, punched her and then killed both girls.

    Hobbs faces two charges of first-degree murder.

    The bodies of the two girls were found early Monday in a park just blocks away from their elementary school at Zion, about 45 miles (about 72 kilometers ) north of Chicago.

    Hobbs was reported to have led police to the bodies just off a wooded bike path, claiming he spotted them while searching for hisdaughter. The girls were found to have been beaten and stabbed repeatedly and left to die.

    Hobbs was released from prison in Texas last month after serving nearly two years for violating his probation. He has an extensive criminal history dating back to 1990, authorities said.

    The killings have shocked Zion, a community of 23,000 people which has rarely reported murders. Enditem