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| Iraq |
| Iraqi forces clash with Iran exiles in camp |
| 2011-04-09 |
| BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces clashed with residents of an Iranian dissident camp north of Baghdad overnight, the Iraqi government said on Friday, and an Iranian opposition group said residents were attacked and killed. The government spokesman said five members of the Iraqi security forces were wounded in the incident at Camp Ashraf. Representatives of the camp called the incident a “criminal attack” and said 25 residents were killed and 320 wounded. An Iraqi medical source at nearby Baquba hospital said they had received the bodies of three Iranians, while 16 Iranians, five Iraqi soldiers and one Iraqi policemen were brought to the hospital with injuries. The source requested anonymity since he was not authorised to speak to the media. The 25-year-old camp, home to some 3,500 people, is the base of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), a guerrilla group that opposes Iran’s Shia cleric leaders. Iran, Iraq and the United States consider the PMOI a terrorist organisation. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Ashraf residents threw rocks at security forces in what he called a “riot”. Troops had not opened fire, he said, contrary to reports by camp residents. “The security forces have pushed back residents of Camp Ashraf inside the camp by force,” Dabbagh said. “The situation is now controlled.” “I do not have any information about any deaths or injuries among the residents of the camp,” he said. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the PMOI’s political wing, said Iraqi security forces had been ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to attack the camp, in restive Diyala province about 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad in a remote location largely inaccessible to journalists. “Al-Maliki, under orders of (Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei, has commenced an unprecedented murder in Ashraf,” the group said in a statement. “Forces under his command used Colts, automatic weapons and machineguns installed on armoured vehicles to open fire on residents.” Ashraf has been a sore point for Washington, Baghdad and Tehran for years. The PMOI began as a group of Islamist leftists opposed to Iran’s late Shah but fell out with the Shi’ite clerics who took power after the 1979 revolution. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is visiting Iraq, said the U.S. military had reports of deaths in clashes at Ashraf but could not confirm them. “We’re very concerned with reports of deaths and injuries resulting from this morning’s clashes... I urge the Iraqi government to show restraint and to live up to its commitments to treat residents of Ashraf according to Iraqi law and their international obligations.” Asked about any US military role, Gates said nearby forces might render medical help “but that’s about the extent of it”. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Thanks, mainstream media, for that news. It turns out that Maliki is more like Janet Reno than I first suspected... |
| Posted by: American Delight 2011-04-09 18:43 |