What does 'live fire' mean?
I am reading the Economist, and I am not sure about the meaning of 'live fire' in this sentence: "Security forces responded with live fire; at least 18 people were killed and hundreds wounded". Is it equivalent to "alarm fire"?

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Live fire means use of deadly weapons: guns, bombs etc.

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It means they fired "real bullets" as opposed to "tear gas" or some other form of "non-lethal" round. Firing live rounds into a crowd is normally a last resort.