"The main priority is to take out those people who need to be taken out and treated and to make sure that we get medical supplies into the hospitals that need them," Blair said after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

He was responding to a question about whether Britain would help a 12-year-old boy who lost his arms and his family in a missile attack on his home in Baghdad, and who had been sent to Kuwait for treatment.

"We are well aware of the fact that it is not one individual case, there are many cases which cause us concern. We will do everything we can to respect those people," he said.

"There are already two young Iraqis who are in the United Kingdom, who were injured in the British area of control and who are receiving treatment in the UK," he said, warning that "the security situation is still difficult."

The boy, Ali (Ismail Abbas), was due to be treated in the emirate's specialised Al-Babtain burns centre, and is among a group of children that have been flown to Kuwait by the US military for vital treatment.

Schroeder said that Germany would also like to offer its help in treating such cases.

"Whenever and wherever such children are in need of treatment and where we feel we can be of assistance, we would very much feel that it is our humane and special honour to go in and offer this assistance," he said:

"We would be pleased to do so."

SPACE.WIRE