Beirut, 2007 Aug 15, IRIB
The UN mine clearance agency on Tuesday slammed the Zionist regime for refusal to cooperate in providing data on the location of areas where it dropped cluster bombs during its war with Lebanon.
"In spite of repeated requests for information, Israel has not provided the required strike data -- location of intended target, quantity and type of ordnance dropped or fired -- that is required to quantify the problem," the UN Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC) said.
"Without this strike data, detailed parameters of the size and scope of the problem remain elusive and operational planning is constantly being adjusted to meet the newly found reality on the ground," the statement added.
MACC said that one year after the ceasefire that ended the 33-day war between the Zionist regime and Lebanon, 126,000 unexploded sub-munitions, or bomblets, had been located and destroyed.
The United Nations estimates that of the cluster bomblets dropped by the Zionist regime over Lebanon during the war, up to one million failed to detonate on impact.
At least 28 people have been killed and 177 injured by the weapons since the conflict ended on August 14, 2006, according to the UN.
Cluster munitions spread bomblets over a wide area from a single container. The bomblets often do not explode on impact, but can do so later at the slightest touch, making them as deadly as anti-personnel landmines.
MACC said clearance operations in the past year had resulted in a marked decrease in civilian casualties and had allowed access to agricultural land.