Tripoli, April 17: Libya has denied reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi have used internationally banned cluster bombs against revolutionaries in the Libyan city of Misrata.
“Absolutely no. We can’t do this. Morally, legally we can’t do this,” AFP quoted Mussa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Gaddafi, as saying on Sunday.
Ibrahim called for more evidence, saying, “We never do it. We challenge them to prove it.”
Earlier, the US-based human rights organization had reported that some residents suspected that four cluster bombs exploded in the northwestern Libyan city of Misratah.
“The cluster munition is a Spanish-produced MAT-120 120mm mortar projectile, which opens in mid-air and releases 21 sub-munitions over a wide area. Upon exploding on contact with an object, each sub-munition disintegrates into high-velocity fragments to attack people and releases a slug of molten metal to penetrate armored vehicles,” HRW said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the revolutionaries in Misratah also said that he had heard “one big explosion followed by many smaller ones,” adding that “it sounds like cluster bombs.”
He described the “candy bombs” as “something that resembles a pretty bottle. You pick it up, it explodes and kills you.”
“We never saw these injuries before. We need experts to assess [the munitions],” said a doctor at a Misratah hospital.
However, there has been no confirmed report of casualties related to the cluster bombs.
Cluster bombs, which are banned by more than 100 countries, are air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that eject smaller munitions. Because cluster bombs release many small bomblets over a wide area, they pose risks to civilians both during attacks and afterwards.
“They (cluster bombs) pose a huge risk to civilians, both during attacks, because of their indiscriminate nature, and afterward because of the still-dangerous unexploded duds scattered about,” said Steve Goose, HRW’s arms division director.
This is while the fighting continues to rage between Gaddafi forces and revolutionaries.
Loud blasts were heard on Saturday in Misrata, Libya’s third largest city, accompanied by outbursts of gunfire coming from the city center.
Officials at Misrata’s main hospital said five dead bodies as well as 31 wounded people were transferred to the hospital overnight.
On Friday, forces loyal to Gaddafi rained dozens of rockets down on Misratah. At least eight people were killed and several others injured in the assault, amid warnings that a full-blown massacre is brewing in the city.
Meanwhile, criticism has heaped on NATO over its lack of response in protecting civilians and averting human losses at a time when pro-Gaddafi forces, who seem to have changed their tactics on the battlegrounds, are struggling to advance further into the opposition-controlled cities in eastern Libya.
Since the onset of the bloody skirmishes in the North African country, pro-Gaddafi forces, for the most part, have used heavy tanks and artilleries to pound Libyan cities along the Mediterranean coast.
However, they have switched tactics in recent weeks by leaving their heavy armor behind and using only light trucks and fast-firing anti-aircraft cannons on the front lines in the east.
——–Agencies