Rocket attack kills Iranian exiles in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Rockets and mortar rounds struck a refugee camp for Iranian exiles next to Baghdad’s international airport before dawn yesterday, killing six people and wounding about 40, police and UN officials said.
The UN urged the Iraqi government to ensure the safety of the about 3,100 camp residents and move quickly to find the still-unidentified attackers.
The government said it launched an investigation, but that there is little it can do to shield the camp from rocket attacks. It asked the international community to speed up the resettlement of the refugees.
The camp is home to members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Iraq’s Shiite-led pro-Iranian government considers the MEK a terrorist group and is eager to have it out of the country.
The refugee camp, located in a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, is meant to be a temporary way station while the UN works to find host countries for the refugees. They are unlikely to return to Iran because of their opposition to the regime.
In yesterday’s attack, 35 rockets and mortar rounds struck the camp, said camp spokesman Shahriar Kia.
He said more than 100 people were hurt, while the UN and police put the number of injured at about 40. The Iranian opposition group provided amateur video and photos it said showed the aftermath of the attack. One photo showed five bodies swaddled in blankets lying on the ground in a hallway.
A video clip showed wounded, some with blood-covered faces, being treated at a small clinic. Other footage said to be from the camp showed several small craters in the ground, presumably from rockets, as well as shattered windows and shredded walls of trailer homes. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, called on the Iraqi government to ensure the safety of the refugees and find the perpetrators.
“This is a despicable act of violence,” he said, noting that camp residents are asylum seekers requesting refugee status and are entitled to international protection.