LONDON/BAGHDAD, 4 April 2003 — International human rights watchdog Amnesty International and British campaigners yesterday slammed the indiscriminate use of cluster bombs by the US/UK invading forces in Iraq on Wednesday. The Amnesty warned that the use of cluster bombs will lead to the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
On Tuesday, at least 33 civilians including many children were reportedly killed and around 300 injured in US attacks on the town of Hilla in central Iraq. “Amnesty International is particularly disturbed by reports that cluster bombs were used in the attacks and may have been responsible for some of the civilian deaths,” the organization said.
“The use of cluster bombs in an attack on a civilian area of Hilla constitutes an indiscriminate attack and a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” it said. “If the US is serious about protecting civilians, it must publicly commit to a moratorium on the use of cluster weapons. Using cluster munitions will lead to indiscriminate killing and injuring of civilians,” the organization added.
On Tuesday, an AFP correspondent at Hilla south of Baghdad saw what seemed to be the parts of cluster bombs peppered over a large area. Hospital officials and witnesses said 48 civilians had died in US-British bombardment of the area since late Monday. New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a report days ahead of the start of the current conflict, said cluster munitions dropped in the 1991 Gulf War were to blame for the deaths or injuries of more than 4,000 civilians after the fighting ended.
The British charity set up to commemorate the late Princess Diana yesterday condemned as “appalling” the use of cluster bombs by US-led forces in Iraq. “It’s appalling that, despite the well-documented problems with cluster weapons, the US and UK are dropping them on Iraq,” Andrew Purkis, chief executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund said in London.
“We urge people to join our campaign to put pressure on governments to take responsibility for the clear up of these indiscriminate weapons of war. Until then, cluster bombs must not be used.” The condemnation, made jointly with British-based charity Landmine Action, came a day after US commanders confirmed they had used a new form of cluster bombs in Iraq. Cluster bombs, which separate out into dozens of smaller “bomblets” which spread over a wide area and are designed to kill ground troops, have long been condemned by human rights groups.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross described as “horrific” yesterday the scene at the hospital in Hilla, describing hundreds of Iraqi men, women and children “practically dismembered by explosions”. Red Cross spokesman Floran Westphal, speaking from Geneva, said Red Cross workers reported seeing the local 280-bed hospital completely full of suspected casualties of coalition bomb attacks.
A Red Cross doctor at the town of Hilla, 100 kilometers south of Baghdad, told CNN about 280 Iraqis had been wounded from bombing and fierce fighting the previous 48 hours. He said the hospital was “overwhelmed” by hundreds of casualties, adding he was “shocked” by what he saw.
An ICRC team — including one doctor and one water engineer — visited Hilla to assess the medical and water situation when they found the carnage. When the team reached Hilla surgical hospital, they saw vehicles transporting corpses of men, women and children arriving. Inside the hospital they saw at least 280 people who had sustained injuries.
