The Pentagon is indefinitely postponing plans to stop using a certain type of cluster bomb -- a battlefield weapon that has killed or seriously wounded civilians.

The Pentagon planned to stop using the older style bombs in 2019 and replace them with a so-called safer version.

A Defense Department memo said Thursday the military has been unable to produce cluster bombs with a failure rate of 1 percent or less.

Cluster bombs explode in midair and scatter smaller bombs across a wide target area.

Human rights groups say many of these bomblets fail to explode until a child finds one and mistakes it for a toy or a farmer picks one up in his field.

A 2010 treaty outlaws the use of cluster bombs, but the U.S. is not a signatory. It calls the bombs a legitimate weapon needed for such wartime tactics as attacking enemy troop formations.

Human Rights Watch condemned the Pentagon's decision.

美国五角大楼无限期推迟停用一种集束炸弹的计划。这种炸弹曾造成平民伤亡。

五角大楼原来计划2019年停止使用老式的集束炸弹，用一种新型炸弹取代。

美国国防部星期四的一个通知说，军方始终未能生产出未爆率低于1%的集束炸弹。

集束炸弹在空中爆炸，在大片打击地带散落成小弹体。

人权团体说，很多集束炸弹中的小弹体落地后没有爆炸，结果儿童看到后以为是玩具，或者农民在农田里看到，把它们捡起来后发生爆炸。

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