Four other members of the notorious Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have defected from the group and surrendered themselves to the Iraqi forces.
The spokesperson of the Iraqi Defense Ministry said that four members MKO have escaped Camp Ashraf in Diyala province 60 Km north of Baghdad.
In a press conference organized by the Iraqi Defense Ministry, the defected MKO members said since the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the leaders of the organization have turned the camp into a prison and the residents of the camp are completely cut off from the outside world. They also said that the leaders of the camp have ordered the members to encounter the Iraqi forces if they tried to enter the camp.
In April the MKO members clashed with the Iraqi security forces. The MKO claimed that the Iraqi forces killed 34 of its members in the clashes. But Iraqi forces rejecting the claim said that these people have been killed by the organization itself. The former MKO members said many residents of Camp Ashraf , who are under immense pressure, want to escape but are afraid and unsure of the future. The said scores of MKO members have been killed by the organization recently.
The MKO has carried out many acts of terror against Iranians and cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq . Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.
Three months ago another four MKO members defected the camp and according to the Iraqi Defence ministry the number of the defected MKO members has risen to 58 members. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the International community.