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U.K. Defends Use of Cluster Bombs in Afghanistan
LONDON, Nov 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended Wednesday the use of cluster bombs in Afghanistan, saying the anti-terror coalition had to fight its campaign "vigorously."
He said the weapons, which send out a shower of smaller bombs that explode on their own, had been used on five occasions, once on a training camp of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and four times on frontline Taliban positions.
British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon also defended the use of so-called "daisy-cutter" bombs by United States-led forces. They are the largest conventional explosive devices in the U.S. arsenal.
Blair told the British Parliament that cluster bombs had a role to play in the military campaign in Afghanistan: "They are weapons that are both legal and are necessary in certain specific circumstances.
"There is no easy or pleasant way to fight a conflict like this."
He said it was most important "to take whatever action we can to make sure Taliban forces are weakened" and opposition forces were able to move forward.
"If we want this conflict to be brought to an end quickly, then we have to fight it vigorously. It's not easy in a conflict to avoid civilian casualties altogether."
Blair was responding to a call from the opposition Liberal Democrats asking him to urge U.S. President George W. Bush to halt the use of cluster bombs.
The prime minister was due to meet Bush in Washington later Wednesday.
The military campaign in Afghanistan was launched in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, for which bin Laden is the chief suspect.
Cluster bombs are made up of hundreds of small explosive devices that scatter over a large area.
They are designed to explode on contact with the ground, but experts say on average 10 percent of them remain intact and can lie undetected for years, putting at risk anyone who goes near them.
The U.S. has also dropped two 15,000-pound bombs on Taliban forces in the past week.
Defense Minister Hoon told BBC radio, "One large bomb is used in substitution for a range of smaller ones and if, in fact, it hits the target more effectively, then it's an entirely appropriate weapon."
But Hoon stressed: "These weapons are not being used against the civilian population of Afghanistan, they are being used to deal with military targets - military targets that ultimately could threaten coalition forces."
"This is part of the pressure that we are bringing to bear on the Taliban regime and we need to use the most appropriate weapons to achieve that," he added.
The huge bombs were first used in Vietnam in 1970 to clear landing zones for helicopters.
They became known as "daisy-cutters" because of their ability to remove all vegetation within a radius of almost 295 feet without leaving a crater.
They do this by floating down on a parachute and are then detonated three feet from the ground by a probe protruding from the bottom of the bomb casing.
The use of cluster bombs has aroused opposition from human rights groups and others, who draw attention to the similarity in color between the yellow cluster bombs and the bright yellow humanitarian food packets that the U.S. has airdropped to civilian populations during its bombing campaign.
The groups fear that civilians looking for food may mistake one of the unexploded bomblets for a food packet and suffer casualties.
The bright yellow color encasing the cluster bombs and food packets are especially attractive to children.
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