Afghanistan: Air Attacks

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:53 pm on 29 October 2001.

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Photo of Lord Grocott Lord Grocott Government Whip, Lord in Waiting (Whip) 2:53, 29 October 2001

My Lords, as the noble Lord will know, this point was raised by his honourable friend the Liberal Democrat spokesman in another place during the Statement on Friday. Cluster bombs have been used, but only in a limited number and against carefully selected and legitimate targets. Five such targets have been attacked. One was a terrorist training camp and the others were Taliban military positions. The cluster bombs used are armed with bomblets designed primarily for use against vehicles and buildings, which explode on impact. I reiterate--I am sure the noble Lord will agree--that the difference between the coalition against terrorism and the terrorists is that the coalition against terrorism takes every possible step to avoid civilian casualties of any kind, whereas the objective of the terrorists, as we saw on 11th September, is to maximise the number of innocent victims.