Torture boy's surgery success

Issa's first operation took four hours

A 10-year-old boy who suffered severe burns in Sierra Leone when he was tortured by rebels has undergone four hours of surgery at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Issa Kamara moved his right hand for the first time in two years after the treatment.

The hospital said surgeons had almost straightened out his hand, which had been held over a campfire by rebels in his home country.

Issa will remain in hospital for the next two weeks to allow skin grafts time to take.

His hand was "welded" in the fire

Consultant plastic surgeon Allan Bardsley said: "We were very pleased how the fingers came out. If anything it was better than we expected."

He said he and his team had opened up the 10-year-old's welded hands to reveal a large area where the tendons and nerves were completely exposed by the attack.

The operation involved taking a skin graft from his thigh to cover part of the damaged hand and then attaching the hand to his groin where a "flap" of skin now covers the worst of the scarring.

The hospital said Issa exclaimed his latest English word "Enjoy, enjoy", when he moved his hand for the first time since the accident happened two years ago.

Issa will remain in hospital with the hand, which is partially pinned to maintain straightness, attached to the groin flap for the next two weeks to give the grafts a chance to take.

"Enjoy, enjoy"

He will then have intensive physiotherapy but it is hoped he will be able to use his hand for everyday tasks.

Issa, whose treatment is being organised by the Eastern Daily Press through readers' donations, is staying with a family in Norfolk.

Before his arrival Issa, who is from a farming village in the north of Sierra Leone, was being cared for by US-based charity, the Leonenet Street Children's Project, in his country's capital, Freetown

In 1998 he was captured by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front with his mother Mabinty.

She was raped and forced to clap and sing while rebels held Issa over a fire.