Study: Civilians take bombs’ brunt
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Civilians, a quarter of them children, make up almost all the victims of cluster bombs over the last three decades, a humanitarian agency said.
In a study of 24 countries and regions, Handicap International said the weapons, which it wants banned, had killed, wounded or maimed 11,044 people, of whom 98% were civilians.
Underreporting in such places as Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam means the total could be nearly 10 times higher, it said.
About 27% of the victims were children, mainly boys, who were working or playing in areas where the munitions had failed to explode when dropped.
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