HL Deb 02 July 2003 vol 650 cc104-5WA
Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the latest estimates to date of the number of:

  1. (a) civilians killed;
  2. (b) civilians wounded;
  3. (c) Iraqi service people killed;
  4. (d) Iraqi service people wounded;
  5. (e) coalition service people killed; and
  6. (f) coalition service people wounded

as a result of military action since the beginning of the most recent war in Iraq. [HL2752]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)

As of 30 June, 43 United Kingdom service personnel had died and 155 had become casualties since the start of coalition military operations against Iraq.

Fatalities and casualties suffered by other members of the coalition is a matter for them to comment on.

We make every effort to minimise any impact on the Iraqi civilian population but we have no means of ascertaining the numbers of Iraqi military personnel or civilians were killed or injured during the coalition's military action.

Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the latest estimate of the number of civilians (a) killed and (b) wounded in Iraq, including the Kurdish self rule area, since the end of the recent major military activity, as a result of the detonation of unexploded ordnance; and whether they will review the use of cluster bombs in military operations. [HL2792]

Lord Bach

We have no means of ascertaining the number of civilians killed since the end of coalition's military action, but we are not aware of any proven instances of unexploded bomblets from cluster bombs dropped by United Kingdom aircraft causing fatalities.

Cluster bombs are lawful weapons and are used by UK forces in a manner consistent with our obligations under international law against legitimate military targets on occasions when they are the most appropriate weapons system.

We made every effort to minimise any impact on the Iraqi civilian population of the coalition's military action. UK aircraft employed cluster bombs only against fielded Iraqi military forces in the open or on the periphery of built up areas.

There are no plans to change UK's existing policy on cluster bombs.