Military probing UN experts claim
Sri Lanka Army today said it was probing a report of an United Nations mine removal expert which says unexploded cluster munitions have been found in northern Sri Lanka.
Army media spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya denied the report and said no cluster munitions have been found in Sri Lanka.
“The report was sent without credible information and he should have informed the Sri Lankan authorities before submitting its report”, he said.
The government has officially asked further evidence on the report of cluster munitions, he said.
Earlier the AP news agency quoted a report by a UN mine expert which said unexploded cluster bomblets were discovered in the Puthukudiyiruppu area of northern Sri Lanka, where a boy was killed last month and his sister injured as they tried to pry apart an explosive device they had found to sell for scrap metal.
The report was sent by Allan Poston, the technical advisor for the UN Development Program’s mine action group in Sri Lanka.
It said photographs showed cluster bomblets in the area where the children had been collection scrap metal and storing in their hosue.