TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign announced that the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), was behind the recent terrorist attack in the town of Khalis, north of Baghdad.
Explosions that ripped through a cafe and a restaurant in the Diyala Province town of Khalis in March killed 43 people and wounded at least 65 others.
The blasts occurred hours before the government released the results of the country’s March 7 parliamentary elections.
"Based on investigations by Iraq’s security authorities working on the case, MKO has had a hand in the recent explosions in Khalis that martyred and wounded dozens of innocent people of the region," the campaign said in a statement a copy of which was released by the Habilian website.
The campaign also called on all active political groups in Iraq to take a clear and immediate stance against the MKO and voice their view about the ongoing efforts to end the group’s presence in Iraq.
"Presence of the MKO in Iraq is a blatant interference in the domestic affairs of our friendly and neighboring country (Iran) and is, thus, a violation of Iraq’s Constitution which considers presence of terrorist organizations that act against the other states as illegal," the statement reiterated.
Earlier in March, the Iraqi people in the city of Al-Khalis in Diyala province had called on the future Iraqi government to expel MKO members from the country as soon as possible.
The people of Al-Khalis urged the next government to expel the members of terrorist MKO group, stationed in Camp Ashraf in Diyala province.
The group is responsible for numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqis during the rein of Saddam.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.