WASHINGTON - Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution.
The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities, including Atlanta, as part of its ``Operation Cross Country'' that caps five years of similar stings nationwide.
Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call ``thrown-aways'' kids whose families have shunned them.
In all, authorities arrested 345 people including 290 adult prostitutes during the operation that ended this week.