The Hindu : International : U.K. used more bombs in Iraq than in Kosovo

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004

International

International

U.K. used more bombs in Iraq than in Kosovo

By Richard Norton-Taylor

LONDON, APRIL 20. The total tonnage of ordnance dropped by British aircraft on Iraq far exceeded the amount dropped during the Kosovo war, in about half the time, figures released today show, raising questions about the conduct of the war.

The British airforce (RAF) dropped 914 bombs between March 20 and April 30 last year, they show.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) says that the older armaments used, including cluster bombs, added up to nearly 350 tonnes: more than the figure for the entire Kosovo war.

Adam Ingram, the U.K. Armed Forces Minister, has refused for ``security reasons'' to include figures for the RAF's new Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Alarm anti-radar weapon. But the official weights of these two devices appear widely on websites.

If they are taken into account the weight of bombs and missiles used amounts to more than 460 tonnes in 40 days.

This compares with 347 tonnes dropped by the RAF during the 78-day Kosovo war.

The munitions figures for Iraq were obtained by the U.K. Liberal Democrat party's foreign affairs spokesman, Sir Menzies Campbell.

Last night Sir Menzies commented: ``These figures inevitably raise sharp questions as to whether the use of force was proportionate and in accordance with international law.''

Among the bombs dropped by the RAF were 66 BL755s, which release 147 ``bomblets'' over a wide area, up to 10 per cent of which fail to explode.

The figures do not include more than 2,000 Israeli-made artillery cluster shells used around the southern city of Basra. British howitzers with a range of 30km fired the cluster shells at targets described by the MoD as ``in the open''.

Designed to self-destruct if they fail to detonate, they contain 49 bomblets lethal over a large area.

The U.S. defence department has admitted using nearly 1,500 air-dropped cluster bombs during the war. —

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

Palestinians fire barrage of rockets at Jewish settlements

Israeli nuclear whistle-blower to be released today

Murdoch press `influenced' decision on E.U. referendum

U.K. used more bombs in Iraq than in Kosovo

Britain-U.S. rift over Rantisi assassination

Negroponte to be U.S. envoy to Iraq

Honduras to pull out troops

Prabakaran asks new MPs to work towards interim set-up

Khaleda dismisses `quit deadline'

India criticises Israel for killings

`Grant of non-NATO ally status to Pakistan unfortunate''