Coalition of the killing confirms use of weapons of mass-destruction

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday April 03, 2003 10:58 by kokomero

US/K confirms use of cluster bombs in Basra

A military spokesman has confirmed the use of cluster bombs, where a large bomb container scatters hundreds of bomblets over a wide area. The bomblets explode shredding anyone in a radius of hundreds of meters with deadly shrapnel. Worse still the military says only about 5% of the bomblets do not explode, leaving them as a deadly post war legacy which will continue to maim and kill Iraqis for decades.

UK forces use cluster bombs

The bombs spread over a wide area
British forces have used controversial cluster bombs in the air campaign on the outskirts of Basra, a military spokesman has confirmed.
The UK military has used the weapons in open areas where there are a large number of Iraqi troops, a spokesman said.

But the detonation of such bombs near urban areas is controversial because of the risk of civilians being injured in attacks or from unexploded bombs, said BBC correspondent Hilary Andersson, with UK troops in southern Iraq.

The military says only about 5% of the L20 bomblets do not explode.

Meanwhile correspondent Tim Franks, with troops outside Basra, said there was no sense that a decisive battle for Iraq's second city was not imminent.

A confidential briefing document for senior officers said no operation was going to be quick and simple but would rather be "deliberate and determined", he said.

Lethal landmines

Iraqi officials have repeatedly alleged cluster bombs are being dropped by US and British aircraft, but this is the first time the UK military has confirmed their use in this conflict.

A human rights organisation has already warned the US over the use of the munitions saying if they fail to explode on impact, they became like indiscriminate anti-personnel landmines

Fact file: Cluster bombs

Earlier this week a spokesman for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said: "Iraqi civilians will be paying the price with their lives and limbs for many years."

Elsewhere US ground forces have continued their advance towards Baghdad as it was confirmed two US aircraft have been shot down over southern Iraq.

British military spokesman Group Captain Al Lockwood said the coalition had made good progress so far in the campaign against Iraqi forces who are defending the capital.

"We are very well aware it is early days yet," he told the BBC, speaking from the coalition headquarters in Qatar.

He said every effort was being made to keep civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure to a minimum.

Route protection

In southern Iraq British forces have launched a crackdown on guerrilla attacks by Iraqis dressed in civilian clothes.

Helicopters packed with troops are swooping on vehicles on roads across the region.

Some Iraqis may be being paid large sums of money to cause disruption behind the front line, British military intelligences sources have told the BBC.

The tighter checks on civilian vehicles follow guerrilla-style attacks by Iraqi fighters on coalition supply lines in areas supposedly already under the control of British and American control.

BBC correspondent Jonathan Charles said: "The routes need to be protected otherwise frontline units could find themselves short of food, fuel and ammunition."

Troops transported on Puma helicopters are stopping and searching civilian vehicles and checking people for weapons.

Anyone with large amounts of money is being taken away for questioning.