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U.N. Unable To Defuse Cluster Bombs
Saturday, November 10, 2001
By Naveed Ahmad / Jang

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
The United Nations Mine Action Programme on Friday admitted its inability to defuse the unexploded cluster bombs being used by the coalition forces in Afghanistan as neither "the conditions neither are conducive nor is their staffs trained for defusing such latest ordnance". In mid-October, the United Nations Mine Actions programme had asked the US to provide some information about the kind of cluster bombs being used against Afghanistan and the ways to defuse the ordnance in mid-October.

Speaking at a press briefing Friday, Manager of Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan Dan Kelly said the coalition forces are providing some information on locations of strikes, which may contain unexploded ordnance. The UN still has no knowledge of defusing such cluster bombs as some of them are being used the first time.

In an earlier briefing, Dan said the Mine Action Centre Quick Reaction Team in Heart is presently clearing paths for the villagers and sandbagging the devices. "They are doing this so that the villagers can move outside their houses again. They are putting sandbags around the bomb lets for a very good reason: Our de-miners are not familiar with and have not yet been trained to destroy these devices," he told the media.
(More: Jang.com.PK News Source)
2001 © Jang Group of Newspapers.

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