US cluster bombs still plague Laos after Vietnam War

May 2, 2025 3,920

A U.S. B-52 bomber drops cluster bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War.

Cluster bomb

A CBU-58/B cluster bomb, manufactured by the Honeywell Corporation in Minneapolis, is seen being dropped on Laos from a U.S. B-52 bomber during the Vietnam war.

Terror from the air

After a cluster bomb is dropped, it splits open in the air and about 670 tennis ball-sized submunitions (also known as “bombies” or “bomblets”) are dispersed, raining down on the target area.

Cluster bomb

An unexploded U.S. cluster bomb — one of millions in Laos — is seen at an outdoor exhibit in Xieng Khouang.

Cluster “bombies”

Cluster bomb submunitions — CBS/Randy Schmidt

A close-up image shows unexploded submunitions, also known as “bombies,” inside a U.S. cluster bomb that was dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Each one of the cluster bombs contained 670 of the tennis ball-sized submunitions, which would disperse over a wide area as the bomb split open in the air before landing.

“The Secret War”

Laos is the most heavily-bombed country per-capita in the history of the world. Every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years from 1964 until 1973, a planeload of cluster bombs was dropped on Laos by American B-52s. The bombing campaign was aimed at hemming in America’s enemies in neighboring Vietnam. The U.S. was never at war with the people of Laos, and the American people were largely oblivious to the bombing campaign in the country at the time.

No ball game

Brong Yang, 8, shows scars from the shrapnel that tore into his body in July, 2016, when what he thought was a ball exploded as he played with it. He had actually found one of the millions of U.S. cluster bomb submunitions that still litter his native Laos.

Shrapnel wounds

A volunteer examines shrapnel wounds on Brong Yang’s arm. He was wounded by shrapnel from a U.S. cluster bomb submunition that he found while playing near his home in Xieng Khouang, Laos.

Cluster bomb victim

A young man who lost both hands to a submunition he found, left over from a U.S. cluster bomb dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war, is seen receiving medical treatment in Laos.

Seeking leftovers

De-mining teams work to find buried U.S. cluster bombs in Xieng Khouang, Laos.

Boom!

A de-mining technician detonates a U.S. cluster bomb left over from the American bombing campaign during the Vietnam war, in Xieng Khouang, Laos.

Deadly treasure hunt

A de-mining technician works to detect buried U.S. cluster bombs in Xieng Khouang, Laos.

Deadly treasure hunt

Search teams work to detect buried U.S. cluster bombs in Xieng Khouang, Laos.

Deadly treasure hunt

Search teams work to detect buried U.S. cluster bombs in the countryside of Laos.

Preparing for blast

A technician prepares to detonate remotely a controlled explosion to destroy a U.S. cluster bomb found in Laos.

Safe disposal

Smoke from two explosions is seen as technicians destroy two U.S. cluster bombs left over from the Vietnam War in Laos.

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Channapha Khamvongsa, a Washington D.C.-based activist who runs the “Legacies of War” organization to raise awareness and get the U.S. to pledge more cleanup money for Laos, points at a cluster bomb submunition in the ground in Laos some 43 years after the U.S. war in neighboring Vietnam ended.

Bomblet

A small cluster bomb submunition is seen partially buried in dirt where it was found in Laos.

Bomblets

Unexploded cluster bomb submunitions are seen hanging from the ceiling as part of an exhibit at the COPE visitor center and museum in Vientiane, Laos

Powerful reminder

Unexploded cluster bomb submunitions are seen hanging from the ceiling as part of an exhibit at the COPE visitor center and museum in Vientiane, Laos.

Replacements

Prosthetic legs hang from a ceiling at the COPE visitor center and museum in Vientiane, Laos, as part of an exhibit showing the horrors of the U.S. cluster bombing campaign in the country during the Vietnam War.