7 Apr, 2011
BANGKOK - THAILAND on Thursday admitted using controversial weapons during a border clash with neighbouring Cambodia in February but insisted it did not classify them as cluster munitions.
Responding to accusations from campaigners, the Thai army said it had used Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) during the recent heavy fighting on the shared border.
Thailand's foreign ministry also confirmed that the country had used the weapons but said they were 'deployed on the basis of necessity, proportionality and strict code of conduct'.
DPICMs burst into bomblets which are designed for both anti-armour and anti-personnel attack, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a US-based public policy organisation focusing on defence intelligence.
They are defined as cluster munitions by the global campaign group Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), which on Wednesday slammed Thailand's use of the arms.
The group, which campaigns against the bombs, said the Thai-Cambodian conflict was the first confirmed use of cluster munitions anywhere in the world since the Convention on Cluster Munitions became international law. -- AFP
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