52 Iranian exiles killed at Iraq�s Camp Ashraf

The Washington Times, LLC.

More than four dozen members of an Iranian dissident group have been killed in an early morning attack at their camp north of Baghdad on Sunday, according to the Iranian exiles.

Residents of Camp Ashraf, where the attack took place, blamed Iraqi security forces for what they described as a �massacre.�

In the attack, which started unexpectedly at 5 a.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT Saturday) and carried on until late in the afternoon, Iraqi security forces tied the Iranian dissidents� hands behind their backs and shot them in the head, a resident of Camp Ashraf who witnessed the attack said in a phone interview. He requested anonymity out of concern for his safety.

Iraqi officials acknowledged the deaths but blamed it on infighting between the camp�s residents.

The Camp Ashraf resident described such claims as �lies.�

Saddam Hussein allowed the Iranian exiles, members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, to set up their paramilitary base at Camp Ashraf in the 1980s.

After Hussein was overthrown in a U.S. invasion in 2003, the U.S. military disarmed the Iranian dissidents, who had renounced violence in 2001.

More than 3,000 of the camp�s residents have since been relocated to a temporary location near Baghdad�s international airport under a deal brokered by the United Nations that seeks to eventually resettle the Iranians abroad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants the Iranian dissidents out of Iraq, and the interviews are a necessary step to resettle them in other countries.

While 3,100 Iranians were relocated to Camp Liberty, 100 stayed on at Camp Ashraf to look after the exiles� property.

On Sunday, Iraqi special forces �killed them one by one� and set fire to buildings inside the camp, the source at Camp Ashraf said. He put the death toll at 47 and said 12 others are missing.

Shahin Gobadi, a Paris-based spokesman for the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, also known as the People�s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, said 52 people had died.

PMOI on Sunday posted to YouTube a graphic video of the violence at Camp Ashraf.

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Mr. al-Maliki, confirmed that some camp residents had been killed. He said a preliminary investigation suggested they died as a result of infighting among camp residents, and he denied that Iraqi forces were involved, according to The Associated Press.

The United Nations condemned the attack and called on the Iraqi government to investigate the incident and determine who was responsible.

�The priority for the Iraqi government is to provide immediate medical assistance to the injured and to ensure their security and safety against any violence from any side,� said Gyorgy Busztin, the deputy special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Iraq.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, �under its humanitarian mandate, is closely following up on developments on the ground, and is using all possible means to conduct its own assessment of the situation,� Mr. Busztin said.

The State Department removed the MeK from its list of terrorist organizations a year ago.