WUNRN
Camp
Ashraf
or Ashraf City is situated northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120
kilometers west of the Iranian
border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. On January 1, 2009 Camp Ashraf's control was
formally transferred to the Iraqi government.[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Ashraf
________________________________________________________________________
2009-07-28
Is it the beginning of the end of
their presence in Iraq?
Iraq - Iraqi Army Storms Iranian
Opposition-Refugee Camp Ashraf
15 Camp Ashraf residents wounded in offensive as People's Mujahedeen call on world for protection.
By Ali
Al-Tuwaijri - BAQUBA
The Iraqi
army seized control on Tuesday of the main base for Camp Ashraf, Iran's main
opposition in exile after months of a tense standoff, military officials said.
The storming
of Camp Ashraf, which was disarmed by the United States in 2003 and surrounded
by American forces until recently, coincided with a visit to Iraq by US Defence
Secretary Robert Gates.
The
offensive, which one police source said left 15 people wounded, came after the
People's Mujahedeen said it was ready to return to Iran if the authorities
there would guarantee its members would not be abused.
"After
the failure of negotiations with the Mujahedeen 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.
"There
were no injuries, only shouts and insults from the camp's residents."
A police
source said later, however, that 15 camp residents were injured, three of them
seriously, when riot police, called in by the army to quell unrest in the camp,
began beating residents.
Camp Ashraf
is located in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, and is home to around 3,500 Mujahedeen
supporters and their families. It was set up in the 1980s when now executed
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was in power and at war with Iran as a base to
operate against the Iranian government.
The People's
Mujahedeen said in a statement that Iraq police had launched an attack on
Ashraf by firing "pepper gas."
Police
vehicles demolished the side fences and walls while police officers on foot
forced their way into the camp, the Mujahedeen said.
"The
Iranian Resistance holds the US forces responsible for protection of Ashraf
residents and calls on the UN secretary general and all human rights
organisations to intervene immediately to stop attack by Iraqi forces."
An Iraqi
army spokesman in Diyala said two battalions of 400 soldiers each took part in
Tuesday's operation, which was ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's
office.
A further
200 riot police from Diyala later joined.
The camp was
disarmed by US forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam and
US troops had surrounded it until Iraqi forces took over responsibility earlier
this year.
The
Mujahedeen said earlier that it was ready to return to Iran, subject to
conditions.
The group's
leader Maryam Rajavi said in a statement the Iranian regime would have to
pledge "not to arrest, torture, prosecute or restrict the freedom of
expression" of residents of Camp Ashraf willing to return to Iran.
The
Mujahedeen, which seeks to overthrow Iran's Islamic regime, is branded a
terrorist organisation by the United States, while the European Union only
removed it from its blacklist earlier this year.
It was
founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah, but was sidelined by the rival
clerical regime which took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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