What would you expect from war criminals? Right, indiscriminate crimes.



The invasion forces have admitted that cluster bombs were used.

British and American forces were accused yesterday of breaking international rules of war after admitting that they were using cluster bombs against targets in Iraq. Presented with a storm of criticism, the Ministry of Defence admitted that Israeli-manufactured cluster shells had been fired by the Royal Artillery's long-range howitzers around Basra.



It also said that RAF Harrier jets had dropped RBL755 cluster bombs on targets in Iraq. The weapons, which scatter 147 "bomblets" over a wide area, have an estimated 10% failure rate, leaving unexploded munitions which humanitarian groups say are as dangerous as landmines. Yellow in colour and the size of soft-drink cans, they are attractive to children in particular.



US forces, meanwhile, have been showering batteries of cluster weapons on Iraqi targets with multi-launch rocket systems.



The chief doctor at the general teaching hospital in Hilla, six miles south of Baghdad, said this week that 33 civilians had been killed, and 100 injured, after a cluster bomb attack.



American military officials said yesterday that US B-52 bombers had for the first time dropped six new CBU-105 bombs - guided 500kg cluster bombs - on Iraqi tanks defending Baghdad.



Colin King, author of Jane's explosive ordnance disposal guide and a British army bomb disposal expert in the 1991 Gulf war, said yesterday: "Cluster bombs have a very bad reputation, which they deserve."



Richard Lloyd, director of the campaigning group Landmine Action said yesterday: "Dropping cluster bombs on Iraq contradicts any government claim to minimise civilian casualties. Cluster weapons are prone to missing their targets and killing civilians."



Alex Renton, overseeing Oxfam's aid work from Jordan, said the cluster shells could cause "unnecessary harm". The UN children's fund, Unicef, expressed concern that Iraqi children might confuse the yellow food packets being handed out by American forces with the bomblets, which had identical colouring.



In the Commons, the defence secretary, Geoffrey Hoon, accepted there were risks with cluster bombs.



He said that though the failure rate was "very small" they did leave a "continuing problem". Mr Hoon added: "Balanced against that you really have got to face up to the issue of whether you are going to allow coalition forces to be put at risk because we do not use this particular capability."



It would be necessary to use "far larger weapons" to deal with the same problem if cluster bombs were ruled out, he said.



Cluster weapons were used when it was "absolutely justified ... because it is making the battlefield safer for our armed forces", said Mr Hoon. {I translate this to "Forget the civillians"}



Although Iraq is not party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, said Steve Goose, executive director of the arms division of Human Rights Watch, "any use of anti-personnel mines by any armed force is prohibited by customary international humanitarian law, since they are inherently indiscriminate weapons."