Direct proof of use
Amnesty International reported that its researchers found a partially exploded UK-manufactured BL-755 cluster bomb during field work in northern Yemen near the Saudi border. The munition was documented near a farm in Al-Khadhra village, Hajjah governorate, where a local farmer reported seeing a cluster-bomb attack in January 2016.
The finding was later corroborated at the government level. In a 19 December 2016 statement to the UK House of Commons, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the Saudi-led coalition had confirmed that a limited number of BL755 cluster munitions exported from the UK in the 1980s were dropped in Yemen, including by a coalition aircraft in the incident alleged by Amnesty near the Saudi border.
Sources: Amnesty UK BL-755 Yemen Evidence, UK Hansard Yemen Statement
Timeline
The Monitor's Yemen cluster-munition profile lists a BL755 attack at Al-Khadhra, Hajjah, on 6 January 2016, identifying Saudi Arabia as the stockpile holder and the munition as a UK-origin BL755 cluster bomb with 147 No. 2 Mk 1 submunitions.
Amnesty published its field evidence on 23 May 2016 and said the bomb had malfunctioned, leaving unexploded bomblets over a wide area near the farm. On 19 December 2016, Amnesty reported that Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Ahmed al-Asiri said the coalition would cease use of UK-made BL-755 cluster munitions, confirming Amnesty's finding that the type had been used since at least December 2015.
Sources: Cluster Munition Monitor Yemen Profile, Amnesty UK BL-755 Yemen Evidence, Amnesty Saudi Admission Response
Operational role
The BL-755 was an air-dropped cluster munition in this conflict. The available public record ties its use to Saudi-led coalition air operations rather than to Houthi possession or Yemeni government ground use. Amnesty asked whether the weapon had been delivered from UK-supplied Tornado aircraft, while Hansard recorded only that a coalition aircraft was involved in the incident alleged by Amnesty.
Saudi and UK statements described the documented use as limited. The coalition account, as relayed in Hansard, said the munitions were used against a military target; Amnesty and the Monitor focused on the recovered munition, unexploded submunitions, and civilian-harm risk in the affected area. This record therefore treats the BL-755's Yemen role as confirmed coalition air-dropped cluster-munition use, with the exact number of drops and aircraft type not publicly established in the cited sources.
Sources: Amnesty UK BL-755 Yemen Evidence, UK Hansard Yemen Statement, Cluster Munition Monitor Yemen Profile
