Mar 18, 2009, 1:35 PM

Iraqi forces surround MKO camp

Iraqi forces surround MKO camp

Iraqi security forces have besieged Camp Ashraf housing members of Mojahedin Khalq Organization in Iraq, residents and a security official said.

The move came after National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie reiterated to shut down the camp, home to 3,500 people.

 

A source at Iraq's Interior Ministry said Iraqi soldiers surrounded the camp on Thursday after residents resisted an attempt to clear them out of one building inside it, Reuters reported.

 

The soldiers were blocking fuel and medicines getting in, he said.

Rubaie pledged in January to close the camp by late March.

 

"Iraqi forces have made a siege around the camp. No one is allowed to enter or leave," the source said late on Sunday. "We have instructions from Mowaffaq al-Rubaie to seal it off."

 

MKO members immigrated to Iraq in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces against Iran in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The group has claimed responsibility for carrying out numerous terror attacks against Iranian nationals and officials, and has also been accused of assisting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the slaughter of thousands of Iraqi civilians in the 1990s.

 

On a visit to Iran on Jan. 23, Rubaie said Camp Ashraf would be "part of history within two months". In a statement on Friday, his office reiterated his intention to shut it.

 

"The government will not go back on its decision to close down the camp ... residents have the choice between returning to Iran or going to a third country," the statement said.

 

PA/PA

END

MNA

News ID 32918

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