A Brazilian toddler has been found with some 40 needles inside him, which police say his stepfather inserted during a possible "black magic" ritual.

Police said Roberto Carlos Magalhaes has confessed to sticking the sewing needles into the two-year-old boy, who is in intensive care at a hospital.

Mr Magalhaes said his mistress told him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife.

Doctors are set to begin operating on Thursday to remove some of the needles.

The toddler was taken to hospital in the north-eastern Bahia state by his mother, complaining of stomach pains and vomiting.

X-rays showed scores of sewing needles inside his neck, torso and legs. At least one had punctured a lung, another his liver.

'Revenge attack'

Police said Mr Magalhaes broke down and confessed after being arrested.

"He did that for revenge, to get back at his wife," the police chief the town of Ibotirama, Helder Fernandes Santana, was quoted as saying.

"His mistress told him to kill the child through a macabre ritual," Mr Santana said.

The mother told police she suspected that the boy had been the victim of a black magic ritual after she found suspicious objects in the home she shared with Mr Magalhaes - her husband of six months - and her six children.

Doctors said most of the needles will be removed, but not the ones inside organs as their removal could cause more damage.

They said there were no signs of wounds on the boy.

Reports say the boy is in serious condition, but that he has shown some improvement since being admitted to hospital on Sunday.