New York-based human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has said more than 1,000 civilians were killed or wounded by US and British cluster bombs in the Iraq war and that Iraqi violations of humanitarian law led to significant civilian casualties.
The watchdog group said its research in Iraq between April 29th and June 1st in 10 cities was not intended to find out the number of civilian casualties but to focus on military tactics that caused them.
It said although US-led forces took precautions to spare civilians and uphold the legal obligations of warfare, different military practices in the ground war, the air war and the post-conflict period could have prevented civilian deaths.
The report, Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraqsaid ground-launched cluster bombs killed or hurt more than 1,000 civilians, while "decapitation" strikes aimed at Iraqi leaders killed dozens of noncombatants.
Cluster munitions are small bomblets scattered on a target area by larger bombs, rockets or artillery shells. Some of those bombs contain hundreds of smaller explosive devices, which can be designed to kill enemy troops or rip treads off tanks. They can be very dangerous close to civilian areas because they disperse widely.
US and British forces used almost 13,000 cluster bombs, said the report, which was sourced to more than 200 interviews with victims and their families, Iraqi doctors, US and British military personnel and others.
The report said 50 strikes on Iraqi leaders - the "decapitation strategy" - failed to kill any of them. Instead, dozens of civilians were killed because of inadequate precision.
The "decapitation" strategy "also failed on human rights grounds," said Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth. "It's no good using a precise weapon if the target hasn't been located precisely."