“Can you help me get my arms back? Do you think the doctors can get me another pair of hands? If I don’t get a pair of hands I will commit suicide.” These were the words of 12 year-old Ali Ismaeel Abbas who lost his lower arms, was orphaned and received severe burns when a missile hit his home 10 days ago.

The wounded Iraqi boy has begun eating food and drinking normally after recovering from initial surgery at a hospital in Kuwait City to place a temporary graft over the deep burns covering his chest, abdomen, and groin.

He is expected to undergo further surgery that will involve grafting skin from his own body.

The badly burned child amputee has become an icon of civilian suffering in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

His pregnant mother, father, brother and 12 other relatives died when a missile obliterated their home.

Ali has received worldwide attention in newspapers and on television around the world, sparking a flood of fundraising appeals for war victims in Iraq.

• Dr. April Hurley, visited Ali Ismaeel Abbas in hospital in Baghdad.