CLEVELAND, Ohio (AFP) - Preliminary DNA results on Friday confirmed the man accused of kidnapping and raping three US woman had fathered the girl found with them in captivity, Ohio's attorney general announced.

Ariel Castro, a 52-year-old unemployed bus driver, is accused of snatching the three women in separate incidents around a decade ago and locking them in his home.

They were freed on Monday, after one of the victims, 27-year-old Amanda Berry, managed to call out to a neighbour who kicked in the door to the suspect's home to rescue her and the six-year-old daughter she bore while held hostage.

"The Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) received a sample of Castro's DNA late yesterday afternoon, and forensic scientists worked throughout the night to confirm that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl," state attorney general Mike DeWine said in a statement.