arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Two huge bombs exploded close to the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Wednesday, sending giant mushroom-shaped clouds billowing high into the sky, a Reuters correspondent said.

Reporter Sean Maguire said U.S. Marines thought the blasts were caused by two so-called "daisy cutter" bombs -- a 6,750 kg (14,850 lb) device that dates back to the Vietnam war.

"Two huge mushroom clouds rose hundreds of feet (metres) into the air," said Maguire, who is travelling with a U.S. Marine unit some 25 km (15 miles) from the city.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02282952.htm

"US ground forces in Iraq are using cluster munitions with a very high failure rate that create immediate and long-term dangers for civilians and soldiers, according to a human rights group.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that, when such munitions failed to explode on impact as designed, they became like volatile, indiscriminate anti-personnel landmines.

HRW argued that while the use of cluster munitions by US forces had not been confirmed by the military, it was evident from television images and stories from reporters embedded with US units that artillery projectiles and rockets containing large numbers of cluster munitions were being used.

"The United States should not be using these weapons," said Steve Goose, executive director of HRW's arms division."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2907375.stm