May 29 (Reuters) - A total of 96 countries have signed the treaty to ban cluster bombs. The United States, Russia and China are among those countries that remain outside the pact. Following are some facts about cluster bomb munitions: * WHAT ARE THEY? -- A cluster bomb, or cluster munition, is a weapon containing multiple explosive submunitions. They are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground and are designed to break open in mid-air, releasing the submunitions which can cover an area the size of several football fields. -- Anyone in that area is very likely to be killed or seriously injured. Many bomblets fail to detonate immediately, and, like land mines, can maim and kill years later. * WHEN AND WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN USED? -- The Soviet Union first used cluster bombs in 1943 against Nazi troops. -- Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. military dropped an estimated 260 million cluster munitions in Laos. So far, fewer than 400,000 have been cleared, a meagre 0.47 percent and at least 11,000 people have been killed. -- At least 15 countries have used cluster bombs, including Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, Britain, Russia and the United States. A small number of non-state armed groups have used them. -- Cluster bombs were used extensively in the Gulf War, Chechnya, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. -- The U.N. estimated Israel used up to 4 million submunitions in Lebanon during a 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas, who also fired more than 100 cluster munitions rockets into northern Israel. -- Russia used several types of cluster munitions, both air- and ground-launched, in a number of locations in Georgia's Gori district in 2008. Also Georgia used cluster munitions in the August 2008 conflict with Russia. DEADLY LEGACY: -- One third of all recorded cluster munitions casualties are children. Sixty percent of cluster bomb casualties are people injured while undertaking everyday activities. STOCKPILES: -- Billions of submunitions are stockpiled by some 76 countries. A total of 34 states are known to have produced more than 210 different types. -- In March 2007 Belgium became the first country to make it a crime to invest in companies that make cluster bombs. Sources: Reuters; Cluster Munitions Coalition: (www.stopclustermunitions.org).
Palestinians carry the body of Abdel Majid Dudin during his funeral near the West Bank city of Hebron May 29, 2009. Israeli troops shot dead the fugitive leader of Hamas's military ...
Landmines and explosives
