The New York-based group, citing reports from local Kurdish officials and photographic evidence, said ISIL militants 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 ISIL militants and local Kurdish fighters.

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.

"Any use of cluster munitions deserves condemnation," said HRW arms division director Steve Goose.

More than 191,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict there began in March 2011, according to the United Nations.

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