Kennedy undergoes brain tumor surgery

US Senator Edward Kennedy, a leading Democrat and patriarch of a prominent US political dynasty, underwent surgery yesterday for treatment of a brain tumor diagnosed last month.

Kennedy, 76, said in a statement he would have "targeted" surger at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, followed by chemotherapy and radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Surgery started at about 1300 GMT and was expected to last about six hours, media reports said. Kennedy, the youngest brother of assassinated US President John F. Kennedy, said he expected to be hospitalized at Duke for about a week.