Iraqi boy has operation in Japan

The boy's eye was injured by a shard of glass

A 10-year-old Iraq boy who was partially blinded during a battle between US troops and insurgents, has undergone surgery in Japan.

Mohamad Saleh arrived in Japan last week on a trip arranged by veteran Japanese journalist Shinsuke Hashida who was killed last month in Iraq.

The operation on the boy's left eye lasted for about 30 minutes.

Mohamad's sight should improve significantly in a few months, a Japanese surgeon told reporters.

The boy was injured by a shard of glass during fighting in the Iraqi city of Falluja in November. Two operations in Iraq failed to restore the sight in his left eye.

Mr Hashida heard of the boy's plight earlier this year and made arrangements for him to go to Japan for treatment.

But on 27 May, he was killed in an ambush south of Baghdad and along with his 33-year-old nephew Kotaro Ogawa, also a reporter.

The story has touched the hearts of many Japanese people, and the boy's trip was paid for by a community group in Numazu, about 100km (60 miles) south-west of Tokyo.