The seizure of Camp Ashraf, which was disarmed by the United States in 2003 and surrounded by U. S. forces until recently, comes after months of a tense standoff at the base north of Baghdad..It also coincided with a visit to Iraq by U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates,..About 60 members of Iraq’s security forces were also wounded, 20 seriously, he said, adding that 50 camp residents were detained.
“After the failure of negotiations with the Mujahedeen[MKO/MEK/PMOI] to enter peacefully, the Iraqi army entered Camp Ashraf with force and it now controls all of the interior and all entrances to the camp,”an Iraqi military source said. ..Iraqi soldiers and riot police stormed a camp housing Iran’s main exiled opposition on Tuesday, triggering violent clashes that left at least 260 people wounded. ..About 60 members of Iraq’s security forces were also wounded, 20 seriously, he said, adding that 50 camp residents were detained..
ICRC spokeswoman Dibeh Fakhr told reporters the 260 had been repatriated between the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and April 2008, after having asked to return to Iran. Two more Mujahedeen members have since also returned home…In March, Iraq’s National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said the Mujahedeen members who were based in the Ashraf camp should leave, describing them as”foreign terrorists”.
Maliki was speaking to reporters on the sideline of a ceremony during which the United States handed over to Iraqi forces security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American occupation of the country. ..The PMOI”is a terrorist organisation and thus cannot operate in Iraq because it will create a political crisis in contradiction with the constitution,”Maliki said.”We will treat them based on the international laws.
Iraq vowed on Sunday to oust members of the main armed Iranian opposition group from its soil, just days before Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is due on a trip to Tehran.The announcement was made during a visit by a government delegation to the camp in Iraq where about 3,500 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MKO/MEK) are based..
French presidential candidate Segolene Royal received a campaign endorsement from an unexpected quarter on Saturday when an Iraq-based Iranian rebel movement held a rally to support her.
The decision, to be adopted Monday by EU foreign ministers, was made in the wake of a ruling last year by Europe’s second-highest court annulling a freeze on the assets of the main Iranian opposition group in exile.
According to Wilkerson, the State Department was also offered a deal by the Iranians after it led the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 which involved Iran giving up senior Al-Qaeda terror network figures in return for help pursuing the MKO.Powell and Wilkerson were unsure how high in the Iranian government the approach came from, however, and did not pursue the offer, the BBC said.
Under the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, the PMOI was supplied with weapons and tanks and periodically carried out armed incursions against Iran as well as helped Iraqi forces put down rebellious Shiites in 1991.
US forces confiscated the organization’s weapons following the March 2003 US-led invasion, taking away some 300 tanks, many of which were subsequently given to the Iraqi armed forces.
Iranian exiles linked to an opposition group Washington considers terrorist gathered Thursday to demand US President George W. Bush support them…..Rajavi, president of the opposition group, cannot enter the United States because the council and its armed wing, the People’s Mujahedeen(PMOI/MKO/NCR), are considered terrorist organizations by the US government and the European Union. Its detractors call the organization a Marxist cult ..