DHAKA: The Saudi-led coalition battling an air campaign against Yemeni rebels has been using United States-supplied cluster bombs.

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday, warning of the long-term dangers to civilians, reports The Straits Times.

The widely banned munitions contain dozens of submunitions, which sometimes do not explode, becoming de facto landmines that can kill or maim long after they were dropped.

HRW said it had gathered photographs, video and other evidence indicating that cluster munitions had been used in coalition air strikes against the Huthi rebel stronghold of Saada province in Yemen’s northern mountains.

It said that analysis of satellite imagery suggested that the weapons had landed on a cultivated plateau, within 600 meters of populated areas.

BDST: 1455 HRS, MAY 03, 2015
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