Cluster bombs made in the UK have been used in the conflict in Yemen, the government has confirmed.
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said Saudi Arabia had confirmed munitions bought from the UK in the 1980s had been dropped.
Since 2010, it has been illegal under British law to supply the bombs, which put civilians at risk by releasing small bomblets over a wide area.
Labour said it was “deeply worrying” that cluster bomb use had been confirmed, BBC reported.
The UK is supporting the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen.
In a statement to MPs, Fallon said the UK had not supplied any cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia since 1989.
But he added that Saudi investigations had concluded that UK-made cluster bombs had been dropped.
“The BL-755 bombs will no longer be used by the coalition,” he added.
Amnesty International, which says it has documented the use in Yemen of a cluster bomb manufactured in the 1970s, has called on the UK to trace weapons made and sold before the ban.
Earlier, the Saudi state news agency reported a coalition spokesman saying cluster bombs were only used against “legitimate military targets”.
“It has become apparent that there was limited use by the coalition of the UK-manufactured BL-755 cluster munitions in Yemen,” Fallon said.
