"He's in the operating theatre right now," said health ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Shatti.

Ali Ismail Abbas went into surgery around 1.00 pm (1000 GMT), Shatti said, after being stabilised on arrival from Baghdad.

"Today they are cleaning all his wounds, and wherever indicated on the table, they'll do skin grafting," said Shatti.

The boy arrived around 3.30 am (0030 GMT) at the specialised Al-Babtain burns centre where he was quickly diagnosed with burns to more than 20 percent of his body, plastic surgeon Imad Najada earlier told reporters at the hospital.

As he was being examined, Ali could be heard screaming and crying in agony.

The child's arms were amputated above the elbow in Baghdad after he was the sole survivor among 20 others killed when their house was hit in an attack by the US-British coalition on March 30.

Ali will undergo skin grafting and, if all goes well, be fitted with prosthetic arms designed to give him a degree of movement. He will also have to endure extensive rehabilitation.

The boy's suffering has touched the hearts of millions worldwide and sparked a high-profile campaign to save his life.

Kuwait's First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who made the decision early Tuesday to take in the boy for treatment here, visited Ali in hospital Wednesday morning, Shatti said.

"Sheikh Sabah visited him and was chatting to him. He has visited all the children so far brought here from Iraq, and has given orders to trace their families and bring them over to see the kids," he said.

After the initial prognosis, Najada said Ali was "stressed" and had infected wounds but appeared to be stable enough for what might be a series of operations and a long road to rehabiliation.

The surgeon added that Ali's condition was not life-threatening and that there was "no need (for him) to go anywhere else, we can take care of it here."

Najada said he anticipated the boy would only need a week to 10 days of initial treatment in the burns centre, explaining it would initially involve replacing lost fluids and providing more blood to support the circulation.

He said the boy had sustained burns primarily to the interior trunk and part of the scrotum.

Ali's dazed and exhausted uncle, Mohammad al-Sultani, told reporters on their arrival at the hospital that "all his family is dead."

Medical staff in Baghdad had warned that they lacked the equipment to treat Ali and that he would die of blood poisoning if not taken abroad for specialised care.

Ali's plight, captured in news broadcasts and headlines around the world, has turned him into a symbol of the civilian suffering in the conflict.

Charities and British media raised funds to airlift Ali out of Iraq and helped publicise his pain.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday during a visit to Germany: "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."

Blair added that two other young Iraqis who had been injured in British-controlled southern Iraq had been flown to Britain for treatement.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, at Blair's side, 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.

Kuwait's health ministry said some eight other Iraqi children had already been brought to Kuwait City for medical care since the US-led war.

SPACE.WIRE