40 killed by Israeli cluster bombs in Lebanon during the 2006 war

by **Admin** Sun Apr 06, 2008 1:46 am

Forty people have been killed and 252 wounded by Israeli cluster bombs dropped during the 2006 war in Lebanon, the UN demining organisation said on Friday.

"Twenty-seven civilians have been killed and 218 wounded by the explosion of these devices since the end of the war on August 14, 2006," said Mine Action Coordination Centre spokeswoman Dahlia Farran, adding that "the majority of the wounded have been permanently disabled."

"Among demining personnel, 13 people have been killed and 34 wounded, including Lebanese soldiers and members of international organisations and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon," she added.

Farran said that so far deminers had managed to clear 42 percent of the estimated 39 million square metres (420 million square feet) of south Lebanon that had been littered with cluster bomb submunitions.

The munitions dropped by Israel during its devastating air war against Lebanon in 2006 included at least a million cluster bomblets, according to the United Nations.