A woman in Mali has given birth to nine babies - two more than doctors had detected inside her womb - joining a tiny global number of mothers of nonuplets, writes The Guardian.

Halima Cisse, 25, had been expected to give birth to seven babies, according to ultrasounds conducted in Morocco and Mali that missed two of the siblings. All were delivered by caesarean section.

Cisse’s pregnancy has fascinated the west African nation and attracted the attention of its leaders. When doctors in March said Cisse needed specialist care, the country’s transitional leader, Bah Ndaw, ordered that she be sent to Morocco, where she gave birth to five girls and four boys, according to Mali’s health ministry.

“The mother and babies are doing well so far,” Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, told Agency France-Presse, adding that she had been kept informed by the Malian doctor who accompanied Cisse to Morocco.

They are due to return home in several weeks’ time, she added, with the birth likely to have set a new world record for the number of children born in a single birth to have survived.