"Ali (Ismail Abbas) in general, is doing alright, he's in a very stable condition" a day after 90-minute surgery Wednesday to remove all his dead skin tissue, health ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Shatti told AFP.

"He's started talking, he said he was grateful to the surgeons and the staff. And we've had a huge amount of calls, locally and international, to the health ministry, all offering help in any way they can," Shatti said.

The offers range from paying for surgery to supplying equipment, he said.

"He has already received 5,000 greeting cards. Everybody is amazed with Ali, his power to take all the pain and keep talking."

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.

His suffering has sparked a high-profile international campaign to save his life and won sympathy from around the globe.

Ali will be kept in the intensive care unit of Kuwait's Al-Babtain burns centre until Monday, when he will undergo a skin graft if his recovery permits, Shatti said.

His first in a series of operations was performed just hours after arriving at the hospital, where he was diagnosed with burns to more than 20 percent of his body, primarily the interior trunk and part of the scrotum, doctors said.

As he was being examined, reporters could hear Ali screaming and crying in agony.

Ali will also be fitted with prosthetic arms if his condition permits and will have to endure extensive rehabilitation.

Kuwaiti 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, has visited Ali in hospital.

Sheikh Sabah has also visited some eight other Iraqi children brought here for medical care since the US-led war began March 20.

Plastic surgeon Imad Najada said Ali's condition was not life-threatening and that there was "no need to go anywhere else, we can take care of it here."

The child's uncle, Mohammed al-Sultani, who accompanied him from Iraq, has said Ali would rather be treated in an Arab country.

"All his family is dead," Sultani told reporters on their arrival at the hospital.

Medical staff in Baghdad had warned 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 story.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder both addressed Ali's case during a meeting this week, pledging their countries' support to help Iraqi civilians in need.

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

SPACE.WIRE