Cloned human embryos were transferred into the wombs of four women in an attempt to give birth to the world's first cloned baby, it has been reported.
American fertility doctor Panayiotis Zavos said he had cloned 14 embryos and successfully transferred 11 of them.
The transfers did not lead to a viable pregnancy but Dr Zavos said it was a serious attempt at producing a cloned baby.
He told the Independent: "There is absolutely no way that it will not happen.
"If we intensify our efforts we can have a cloned baby within a year or two, but I don't know whether we can intensify our efforts to that extent."
It is illegal in many countries, including Britain, to transfer cloned embryos into the human womb.
It is believed the work was carried out in a laboratory in the Middle East.
The patients, three married couples and a single woman, came from Britain, the United States and an unspecified country in the Middle East.
This is not the first time Dr Zavos has made such claims.
In January 2004 he said he had successfully implanted a cloned embryo into a 35-year-old woman. But a month later it emerged the attempt had not worked and the woman had not become pregnant.
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