The Iraqi government said three people died in the clashes. The Mojahedin-e Khalq announced that 34 of their members were killed. The nearest hospital at Baqouba told reporters it had 12 bodies.
The Iraqi government was incensed and announced Monday that all 3,400 members of the group at Camp Ashraf must leave the country by the end of this year. Government spokesman Ali ad-Dabbagh said Iraq would not force any of them to go back to Iran. He didn’t say what the government would do if they did not leave by December 31.
The cabinet voted a few years ago to boot all members of the group out of the country, but that effort floundered because no one except Iran is willing to take them. The deadline passed with no change.
Starting in 2003, the United States tried to find other countries willing to take members of the group. No country has agreed to take any of them apart from a handful who had relatives in a foreign country who could sponsor them in.
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that none of the Camp Ashraf residents has been willing to sign a form disavowing violence and therefore none of them is eligible for refugee status, which would pave the way for the UNHCR to place them in other countries. (See accompanying article.)
The Mojahedin said the Iraqi Army and police tried to invade the camp Friday morning. The Iraqi government said that was false, It said it was only rotating units and replacing the troops that had been at the camp in recent months. No reporters were at the scene at the time of clash and the Iraqi government has barred reporters from the area ever since, so there is no independent word on what happened.
The United States has a few personnel still at Camp Ashraf. They have declined to say anything except for one public comment complaining that the Iraqi Army refused to allow an American military medical team to enter the camp and treat the injured. Hours after that comment was published, the Iraqis relented and allow the medical team into the camp.
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was visiting Iraq at the time of the clash. He apparently received a report from the US team at Ashraf. “I am very concerned about the report of deaths and injuries,” Gates said. “I urge the Iraqi government to show restraint.”
Later, the State Department issued an angry statement that came down hard on Iraq. “Although we do not know exactly what transpired early this morning at Ashraf, this crisis and the loss of life was initiated by the Government of Iraq and the Iraqi military,” the statement said. “We reiterate our call for the Iraqi government to live up to its commitments to treat the residents of Ashraf humanely.”
The Mojahedin issued a statement Monday accusing the Iraqis of “murder in cold blood.… Currently, the Iraqi forces are occupying, desecrating and looting Camp Ashraf’s Pearl cemetery and preventing the burial of the martyred residents.” The statement said the death toll “is also a result of United States’ patent refusal to compel the Iraqi government to end its all out siege and medical blockade of Camp Ashraf since 2009.” Under a December 2008 agreement with Iraq, the US Army’s authority in the country and ability to carry out operations was severely limited and responsibility for Camp Ashraf was removed from the US Army and handed over to Iraq.
Iraqi Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan said his replacement troops entered the camp Friday before dawn and were greeted with a hail of rocks, with residents laying in the roadway to stop his vehicles. He said he responded to that provocation by ordering an attack an hour later with smoke bombs to drive the Mojahedin back. He said nothing about live ammunition, but spokesman Dabbagh said the troops “did not use weapons.” Later in the day, Ghaidan said, “Our troops are outside, and we are not near the [Mojahedin] residential areas. Everything is stable.”
Ashraf spokesman Shahriar Kia said that was not true. He described a standoff with soldiers and Mojahedin members on either end of the camp’s main street. “They have attacked our homes and looted them,” Kia said, referring to the dormitories where the Mojahedin live. “People are standing out on the street to protect their homes.”
Camp residents posted a six-minute video that they said showed the Iraqi assault Friday, although there was no way to be certain when the video was taken. It showed Humvees flying the Iraqi flag chasing down dozens of masked people throwing stones. One person appeared to be struck by a Humvee. An Iraqi soldier was shown firing an AK-47 automatic rifle, but what he was shooting at was not shown. The Iraqi general said the assault took place in the dark before dawn.
The Associated Press said it sent a reporter to Ashraf who was allowed in but swiftly escorted out. The reporter said he saw a US Army officer looking very angry as he confronted an Iraqi officer inside the camp. The reporter asked an Iraqi translator with the US officer why the American was angry and the translator said, “Because of the high casualties.”
There was one previous violent clash between Iraqi security forces and the Mojahedin. That was in July 2009.
Camp Ashraf is located north of Baghdad and about 50 miles from the Iranian border.