Human Rights Watch said Monday that militants of the Takfiri group operating in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, have used cluster munitions in Syria in at least one location.

Human Rights Watch said Monday that militants of the Takfiri group operating in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, have used cluster munitions in Syria in at least one location.

The New York-based group, citing reports from local Kurdish officials and photographic evidence, said IS fighters had used cluster bombs on July 12 and August 14.

They were deployed in fighting around the town of Ayn al-Arab in Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey, in clashes between the Takfiri group and local Kurdish fighters.

The group said it was believed to be the first time ISIL had used cluster bombs, and it was unclear how it had acquired them.

Cluster munitions contain dozens or hundreds of small bomblets and can be fired in rockets or dropped from the air.

They spread explosives over large areas and are indiscriminate in nature, often continuing to maim and kill long after the initial attack when previously unexploded bomblets detonate.