Four nurses in Tanzania’s western Tabora region are to be charged in court with harvesting the organs of baby twins, a regional official has said.

A committee set up to investigate the incident found that the bodies of the prematurely born twins were mutilated after they had died.

The mother found her babies’ eyes gouged out and part of their skin peeled off from the forehead.

Tabora regional commissioner Batilda Buriani said the nurses, who are under arrest, have been suspended from their duties.

She said the organ-harvesting was linked to witchcraft.

The nurses misled the investigating committee by falsely claiming that the bodies were kept in the maternity ward when, in fact, they were found in the nurses’ room, Ms Buriani added.

The nurses have not yet commented on the allegations.

The report also indicates that the twins died due to a lack of neonatal care services, which were unavailable at the facility where they were born.