Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today urged Islamic countries to help children who have been orphaned by the Asian tsunami disaster amid reports of child trafficking.

Abdullah, who chairs the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), expressed concern over reports that traffickers in Indonesia were selling children whose parents were killed in the giant waves that shattered coastal regions in 11 countries.

"This should not be happening. These orphans may have relatives in areas not affected by the tsunamis," he told a news conference.

"It's mean. For any group to take these children to sell, it's totally unacceptable to me," he said, adding that he would contact OIC members and its humanitarian organisations to channel aid to thousands of orphans in Indonesia.

Abdullah will attend an emergency summit of world leaders in Jakarta seeking to rally aid for tsunami victims on Thursday, where he will officially hand over the Malaysian government's contribution to Indonesia.

He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Women and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, and other officials.

The tsunamis, spawned by a massive earthquake off Indonesia on Dec 26, hit shorelines across the Indian Ocean, killing more than 145,000 people, the bulk of them in Indonesia. Millions have been left homeless.

While Malaysia lies closer to the epicentre of the earthquake than many countries harder hit, it was protected from the full force of the waves by Indonesia's Sumatra island. A total of 68 people died in Malaysia.