TEHRAN, Aug 26: An Afghan woman has given birth in Iran to twin boys whose heads share the same body, doctors said on Thursday, adding the children stood little chance of survival.

"I've seen twin attached by the head or stomach but never a baby with two heads," a female doctor at the Ghaem hospital in the northwestern city of Mashhad said. "Sometimes one head cries, while the other sleeps," she added.

"For the time being the baby is fine, but the chances of survival are low. In such cases there is too much strain on the heart," lamented the doctor, who was working in the intensive care ward where the boy has been placed.

The mother has been identified as a 45-year-old Afghan, Najmeh Wahedian. The doctor said the heavily-conjoined twins, born on Tuesday in a caesarian section and weighing 4.3kgs, has not yet been given a name or names.

The babies, currently in intensive care and dependent on oxygen, are reportedly the eighth and ninth children of the woman. Photos show an apparently normal torso with two separates heads cramped together on the shoulders.

Medical officials said tests had revealed the baby has two functioning brains, each one controlling its respective side of the body. In addition, the single torso is said to contain two hearts and two spinal cords.

Hospital staff said they had been inundated with calls and visits since the birth. In July last year, Iran was plunged into mourning after Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29-year-old women fused at the head since birth, died during a daring operation in Singapore aimed at separating them. -AFP