The widow of an American soldier who was killed in Iraq has had his sperm frozen four days after his death in the hope of bearing his children.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, Kynesha Dhanoolal won a restraining order preventing the US military from embalming the body of her husband until samples of his sperm were extracted.

Sergeant Dayne Darren Dhanoolal, 26, died on March 31 when his vehicle was blown up by insurgents in Baghdad. The couple were intending to try for children when he returned from military service, his wife claims.

Medical experts say the likelihood of his sperm being capable of bearing children so long after his death is extremely remote, as sperm generally begin to lose movement and function three hours after a man's death.

However last Friday, a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia, granted Ms Dhanoolal's request to prevent embalming to allow the extraction of sperm. The samples were taken later that day and are in the custody of a medical representative for the widow, who is hoping to be inseminated.

The widow’s mother, Yvonne Watkins, said her daughter hopes to have her husband’s sperm artificially inseminated as early as this summer.

“We’re trying to honor my daughter and Darren’s wishes,” she said. “All of his comrades and anyone who knew them knew he wanted children.”

Attempts to undertake the removal were delayed until last Friday because Sergeant Dhanoolal died without a will, and his mother, Monica Brown of Texas, initially refused to give her consent to the sperm-removal operation. Before going to war, the sergeant had signed a form authorising his mother to handle his remains upon death.

However, a probate judge in Muscogee county made the soldier's wife temporary administrator of her husband's estate and ordered the embalming process to be stopped.

Ms Watkins said that both sides of the family had reached common ground last Saturday, allowing the procedure to go ahead.

"We've been crying together since Saturday," Ms Watkins said. "She called to say she was OK with it. She just wants to make sure when Kynesha does this that she's included."

She added: "This would be one special grandbaby. And he or she will be embraced by so many."

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