U.S. declines to sign ban on cluster bombs

Some 100 countries will ban the use of such weapons when their delegates sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions on Wednesday in Oslo but major producers like the United States, China and Russia are shunning the pact.

"Although we share the humanitarian concerns of states signing the CCM, we will not be joining them," the State Department said in a statement when asked for its views on the Oslo gathering.

"The CCM constitutes a ban on most types of cluster munitions; such a general ban on cluster munitions will put the lives of our military men and women, and those of our coalition partners, at risk," it added.