Unexploded bombs posing threat

Some 5,000 unexploded and highly volatile cluster bomblets may have littered Afghanistan as a result of the US bombing. This unexploded ordnance (UXO) poses a grave threat to civilians, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

A researcher with HRW in Islamabad, Sam Zia Zarifi, told IRIN on Friday they had evidence of civilian casualties in Morgai village near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. "Two civilians, now admitted in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, received injuries after they touched a cluster bomblet," he said.

The UN has confirmed one civilian death so far and three injuries from handling unexploded cluster bombs. The failure rate of sub-munitions can range from five to 30 percent, depending on the type of munition used, along with other operational and environmental conditions.

Zia Zarifi said that the fluid situation in Afghanistan demanded an immediate discontinuation of cluster bombs, as they posed a greater threat than the military advantage they were expected to deliver. "Although international humanitarian law does not prohibit the use of cluster bombs, given the hazards they pose to civilians, this [in] itself calls for an immediate halt," he added.

Particularly disturbing was the fact that these bombs were sometimes dropped with parachutes, which were coloured bright yellow and could attract children, he added. Moreover, the colour of the bomblets and food packs that were airdropped by the US were not easily distinguishable from each other, and the US has said it would change the colour.

Welcoming this move and the US's efforts to warn civilians, HRW warned that in the long term it would not solve the graver problem of UXO. It also called upon the US to supply information on the location, types and quantity of the munitions to the UN mine action programme.

The US should give a clear commitment to clear all the munitions dumped during its campaign, Zia Zarifi said.