Six-year-old Zainab Amin's suspected rapist and murderer has been formally nominated in the rape and murder cases of seven other children in Kasur, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) was told on Tuesday.

An earlier DNA test of the suspect revealed his DNA was a match with samples recovered from the crime scenes in the seven cases prior to Zainab's.

The investigation officer (IO) probing the cases told the ATC judge today that the suspect had kidnapped, raped and killed a total of eight girls.

The IO sought a five-day remand of the suspect, saying that the police wished to further probe him in connection to the cases. The court remanded him to police custody for three days.

Earlier on January 24, the ATC had granted investigators a 14-day physical remand of the suspect in connection with the Zainab murder case.

Zainab's rape and murder had sparked outrage in Kasur and across the country. The six-year-old went missing on Jan 4 and her body was recovered from a trash heap on Jan 9.

Her case is the 12th such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over the past year.

Police had confirmed on Jan 13 that the results of DNA testing of samples collected from the crime scenes pointed towards the involvement of one culprit in at least seven similar cases in the district.

On Jan 23, the Punjab government declared the arrest of the prime suspect.