"It's appalling that, despite the well-documented problems with cluster weapons, the US and UK are dropping them on Iraq," Andrew Purkis, chief executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund said in a statement.

"We urge people to join our campaign to put pressure on governments to take responsibility for the clear up of these indiscriminate weapons of war. Until then, cluster bombs must not be used."

The condemnation, made jointly with British-based charity Landmine Action, came a day after US commanders confirmed they had used a new form of cluster bomb in Iraq.

Cluster bombs, which separate out into dozens of smaller "bomblets" which spread over a wide area and are designed to kill ground troops, have long been condemned by human rights groups.

They say that unexploded bomblets which fail to detonate when they hit the ground are a long-term risk to civilians.

On Tuesday, an AFP correspondent at Hilla, south of Baghdad, saw what seemed to be parts of cluster bombs peppered over a large area.

Hospital officials and witnesses said 48 civilians had died in US-British bombardment of the area since late Monday.

The Diana Fund was set up to distribute public donations made after the princess's death in an August 1997 car crash in Paris. Diana was a high-profile campaigner against the use of land mines.

SPACE.WIRE