Georgia has admitted to using cluster bombs during the South Ossetia conflict, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday, after having earlier accused Moscow of using the same weapons.
HRW cluster bomb expert Bonnie Docherty told journalists the group had “firm evidence” that Russia had used cluster munitions and that “in addition, Georgia just this weekend admitted to Human Rights Watch that they used cluster munitions in several locations.”
She said the nongovernmental organization got the information from a letter from the Georgian defense ministry in response to questions posed by HRW. Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, cluster bombs explode in mid-air, scattering bomblets and pose a lasting threat because many bomblets fail to explode on impact and act as landmines.
An international convention banning cluster munitions was formally adopted by 111 countries in Ireland in May, in a move that organizers hoped would stigmatize the lethal weapons as much as landmines. Neither Russia nor Georgia took part in the convention.
“Georgian officials have admitted using the M85 type of cluster munitions near the Roki tunnel,” Docherty said.
The Roki tunnel links Russia and South Ossetia.
HRW also said at least 14 civilians had been killed and dozens injured in at least four villages which were hit by cluster bombs from either Georgian or Russian forces.
“Russia has denied this [the use of cluster munitions], but we have firm evidence that it was used by Russia in several areas,” she said.
The rights group said it had found evidence that two types of cluster munitions were used, the PTAB 2.5M and the M85.
In addition, it had heard reports of two other types of submunitions.
It has documented the usage of these bombs at Shindisi, Pkhvenisi, Ruisi and Gori, but added that it had heard reports that at least nine sites were hit by such bombs.
Last month, Georgia had accused Russia of using cluster munitions indiscriminately against civilians during the four-day conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
The Russian armed forces “extensively used” Iskander, Tochka-U, Grad and Urgan missile systems with different modifications of cluster munitions against civilians during the conflict, Giorgi Gorgiladze, Georgia’s ambassador to the UN Disarmament Conference, said during a sitting of the conference.
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