Two teenaged girls aged 14 and 16 were arrested in Colombia for allegedly kidnapping and performing a C-section on a pregnant woman to steal her baby, Colombian media reported on Wednesday. Events reportedly happened Monday in the town of Duitama, in the central Colombian region of Boyaca. The two suspects who are cousins deceived their 18-year-old victim by pretending to offer her a job.

According to the daily El Tiempo, the 16-year-old suspect had been pregnant but lost the baby in a fall. With her cousin, she planned to steal someone else's baby so that her boyfriend would not leave her. One of the suspects reportedly made contact with the pregnant woman and asked her to go to a solitary cellar for a job interview. When she got there, the two attackers tied her up and performed a C-section, removing the seven-month-old foetus from her womb.

"Although proceedings were hardly orthodox, it is striking that the girls may have carried out that surgery without compromising organs other than the womb, particularly if we take into account that the patient was supposedly awake and fighting so that her baby would not be taken away," doctor Ernesto Giraldo was quoted as saying.

The victim was found by Civil Defence personnel and was taken to Duitama hospital, where she told doctors that her baby had been stolen. One of the attackers took the newborn home with her, but her family took the infant to hospital because it was covered in blood. The baby was placed in an incubator.

The authorities then matched the wounded mother with the bloody baby. The attackers were to face charges of attempted homicide and aggravated personal assault, Colombian authorities said. The victims were said to be in good condition, although doctors noted that the risk of infection persisted.