Three more clones to be born, say Raelians

The religious sect that claimed to have achieved the birth of the world's first cloned baby on Boxing Day, and said a second had been born last week, declared yesterday that three more were due to be born in the next six weeks.

But leaders of the Raelians, a group that believes human life was created by aliens, said the crucial DNA evidence to prove their claims would only be provided when the parents were ready.

In the face of widespread scepticism, Brigitte Boisellier, the French scientist who heads Clonaid, a company which is linked to the Raelians, said that independent testing to verify that the babies were clones of their parents would be allowed in time. "I want these tests to happen as quickly as possible, because it's my concern ... but not at any price," she said on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost programme.

The second baby, born to a Dutch lesbian couple, was delivered at 10pm local time on Friday, she said, but she would not disclose in which country the birth took place.

The Royal Society scorned the latest claims and said that it remained deeply concerned about the welfare of any individual involved in cloning experiments.