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Russia using cluster bombs: HRW

International rights group Human Rights Watch said yesterday it had evidence that Russian aircraft had dropped cluster bombs on Georgia, including the flashpoint city of Gori, killing at least 11 civilians.

The New York-based organization said the dead included a Dutch journalist and that dozens more were wounded.

Human Rights Watch said its researchers had spoken to doctors and victims and had examined photographic evidence that led them to conclude cluster bombs had been used in Gori and the nearby town of Ruisi, south of South Ossetia.

“Cluster bombs are indiscriminate killers that most nations have agreed to outlaw,” Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Russia’s use of this weapon is not only deadly to civilians, but also an insult to international efforts to avoid a global humanitarian disaster of the kind caused by landmines,” he said.

A senior Russian commander denied the allegation yesterday.

The cluster bomb report is a “well-prepared lie,” the deputy head of Russia’s General Staff, Anatoly Nogovityn, said in a televised press conference.

“This is the first known use of cluster munitions since 2006, during Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the rights group said.

Meanwhile, Russian troops allowed some humanitarian supplies into Gori yesterday but continued their blockade, raising doubts about Moscow’s intentions.

A flurry of international diplomacy was also set in motion yesterday, even as regional tensions escalated over a defense deal between the US and Poland.

Gori, about 75km west of Tbilisi, is key to when — or if — Russia will honor the terms of a ceasefire that calls for both sides to pull their forces back to the positions they held before fighting broke out last week in South Ossetia.

Russian forces were also in other cities deep in Georgia, officials said.

By holding Gori, Russian forces effectively cut the country in half because the city sits along Georgia’s only significant east-west highway. Russian military vehicles were blocking the eastern road into the city, although they allowed in one Georgian bus filled with loaves of bread.

Diplomats focused on finalizing the truce between the two nations and clearing the way for Russian withdrawal. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Georgia yesterday to press Georgia to sign the deal.

The plan calls for the immediate withdrawal of Russian combat troops from Georgia, but allows Russian peacekeepers who were in South Ossetia when violence erupted to remain.

Also See: US, Poland clinch missile deal
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