THE distraught mum at the centre of an international love-tug battle over her children has spoken to her daughters for only the second time since they were snatched by their father more than a week ago.

The breakthrough came after repeated attempts to call the mobile telephone number used by Noor and Salam Al-Momani and Noor finally answered the phone.

Josephine Bromley, 33, and fianc Paul Tomlinson, of Lower Darwen, had been trying to get in touch with the girls since they were taken to Jordan by their father Jehad Al-Momani, of Station Road, Great Harwood.

They have sent text messages to the phone to find out if Noor, six and Salam, 10, were safe. But after a brief call from the girls to say they were in Jordan there was no more contact.

Mr Tomlinson, 40, of Lower Darwen, said today: "We had been trying to ring the mobile number every day without success so it was a real shock when Noor answered the phone.

"Josephine had written down lots of things she wanted to say to the girls, but I think her mind went blank because it was so unexpected.

"She just had time to tell them we both love them very much and that we were thinking of them before somebody stopped the call. It was a big thing for her to speak to the girls because it's the first contact we've had for a week and it was starting to get her down. She's in much better spirits now." Miss Bromley and Mr Tomlinson were today due to attend a hearing at Blackburn County Court in a bid to make the girls -- Noor, six, and Salam, 10 -- wards of court, which could improve their chances of getting the girls back from the Middle East.

If the private hearing is successful the Jordanian government is more likely to look sympathetically at any request made to send the girls home.

The couple have also said they will write to Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw as soon as he returns from holiday at the end of the month.

Noor and Salam were snatched by Mr Al-Momani, 37, during an agreed access visit last week.

Miss Bromley said he tricked the girls into getting on a plane to Jordan by telling them they were flying to Birmingham airport to go to Alton Towers.

He is believed to have returned to his home village of Ebeen, a few miles outside the capital Jordan, where he may be staying with relatives.

Police, the Foreign Office and Interpol are currently liaising with the Jordanian government to try to get the children back.

Jordanian-born councillor Karimeh Foster, is also working with the government in the Middle East to try to secure the children's safe return.