A leading human rights group urged Russia today urgently to clear unexploded Russian bombs it said were littering some areas of the Georgian countryside and endangering the population.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a particular danger was posed by cluster bombs - shells which divide before impact into a multitude of smaller 'bomblets' - used during the brief war between Georgia and Russia.
"Highly dangerous unexploded bomblets now litter farms, roads and pathways in Shindisi and Pkhvenisi (in central Georgia)," Marc Garlasco, HRW's senior military analyst, said in a statement.
"People remaining in these areas don't realise the danger these submunitions pose and are at serious risk of injury or death if they handle, or even approach, the bomblets."
HRW said that though Russia had denied deploying cluster bombs, many people had died as a result of their use in the conflict over the Russian-backed rebel region of South Ossetia.
"Many more people could be killed or wounded unless Russia allows professional demining organisations to enter at once to clear the affected areas," Mr Garlasco said.
He cited the case of one elderly man who had picked up a 'dud' shell, not realising that even touching it could detonate it. "We were playing with them, as were the Georgian soldiers," it quoted him as saying.
"It was only when one of the bombs exploded after a soldier threw it, that we understood that they were dangerous."
More than 100 nations have agreed to ban the use of cluster bombs, which can be used against armour as well as people.
Reuters