AUTHORITIES have removed more than 400 children from the secluded, sprawling compound of a polygamist sect, amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse, Texas authorities said Monday.

The tally could rise as authorities search the 1,700 acre (688 hectare) ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, led by jailed Warren Jeffs, who is considered the sect's prophet.

A judge ordered every child to be removed from the ranch because they were deemed at imminent risk of harm.

Some 133 women dressed in ankle-length dresses voluntarily left the compound with the children. Most were mothers.

State police sealed off the compound and would not allow the men to leave, although they have been conducting their search with care in order to ease tension.

The operation began Thursday after authorities received a call from a 16-year-old girl who said she had been sexually and physically abused and had given birth to a child fathered by her 50-year-old husband.

Authorities have not yet identified the girl among those moved off the ranch.

The YFZ (Yearn For Zion) ranch, 411 kilometers southwest of Dallas, Texas, is linked to Jeffs, an avowed polygamist who is now behind bars.

Jeffs was arrested near Las Vegas in 2006 and jailed for life for being an accomplice to rape. He also faces federal charges in Arizona and Utah.

(SD-Agencies)