Rebeca Martinez sleeps at the CARE clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, January 27, 2004. Rebeca, a Dominican infant born with a second partially formed head is scheduled to undergo a risky operation that will take an estimated 13 hours for a team of international doctors and nurses on Friday. (AP Photo)

    HAVANA, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Doctors on Friday removed an undeveloped second head from a seven-week-old baby girl in an operation carried out in Santo Domingo, reports reaching here said.

    "The parasitic head has been removed," Dominican neurosurgeon Santiago Hazim told reporters after the team of 18 doctors and nurses completed the operation which lasted more than 13 hours.

    "The operation has been a real success," Hazim said. "All the baby's vital signs remained stable during the operation. The operation went as planned."

    The operation at the CURE International Center for Orthopedic Specialties began in the morning and went on until late in the evening.

    The baby, Rebeca Martinez, was born on December 17 with her second head containing the partially-formed brain, ears, eyes and lips of what would have been her twin sister.

    The head of the undeveloped twin was attached to the top of Rebeca's skull, facing upward. Enditem