January 03-2014
Several rockets and mortars crashed into the Mojahedin-e Khalq camp near Baghdad last Thursday, killing three more of its members and injuring others.
The Mojahedin blamed the Iraqi government. But an Iraqi Shiite group believed funded by Iran claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United States did not pick out any group for blame but did publicly urge the Iraqi government to install more protective measures, such as bunkers and blast-resistant walls.
And Washington also repeated its now 10-year-old plea for other countries to step forward and give asylum to the 3,100 Mojahedin-e Khalq members remaining in Iraq. According to the UN, only 162 members of the group have so far been given refuge abroad, most of them in Albania,, which volunteered a year ago to take 210.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Wathiq al-Batat, commander of a militia force called Al-Mukhtar Army. He told Reuters his group fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds in the Camp Hurriya.
Al-Mukhtar Army is a new militia that has said publicly it is supported and funded by Iran.
The Mojahedin-e Khalq have been attacked with missiles at least three times in Camp Hurriya, which is an old US Army base adjacent to the Baghdad Airport.
The Mojahedin said more than 50 of its members were injured in the attack Thursday, but the Iraqi police said only four people were taken from the camp to a nearby hospital for treatment.
In Tehran, the Foreign Ministry condemned a terrorist bombing in Beirut but said nothing about the Camp Hurriya attack a dozen hours earlier.
