A three-year-old child has been paralysed after he was hit in the head by a bullet fired during celebration gunfire at a wedding in Kuwait.

The unnamed child reportedly collapsed, screaming and crying with blood gushing from his head.

Local media report he was hit by a stray bullet fired from a machine gun during a celebration at a nearby wedding in Jahra.

The young boy had been playing with his friends in the compound of the family home when he was gunned down.

He was taken to hospital in Kuwait City on 2nd February, where Dr Hamad Al-Enezi, a neurosurgeon, extracted the bullet from the bottom of his skull.

An X-ray taken before the op shows how close the boy came to being killed.

The youngster is said to be in a stable condition but medics say that he is not yet able to move the right side of his body.

They fear he could remain partially paralysed for life.

Dr Al-Enezi said that the operation, which he performed with Dr Youssef Abu Sido was delicate and took about an hour and a half.

He added that after a few hours, when the anaesthetics had worn off, the child opened his eyes and began to move the left side of his body.

But it appears that the bullet may have severed neurological pathways controlling the right side of his body.

It is currently unclear if the police are investigating the incident.