Tehran Praises Baghdad’s Efforts to Evacuate MKO's Training Camp


Tehran Praises Baghdad’s Efforts to Evacuate MKO's Training Camp

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the Iraqi government for its measures to close Camp Ashraf, the main training base of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), and renewed Tehran's support for Baghdad's efforts to expel MKO members from Iraq.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Iranian ministry thanked the Iraqi government for its “sincere efforts” to fully evacuate Camp Ashraf.

The notorious camp, which hosted several MKO terrorists in eastern Iraq, was fully evacuated by the Iraqi authorities from its much-hated residents on Wednesday night.

The evacuation took place under the supervision of UN officials and more than 30 MKO terrorists were removed from the camp in Iraq’s Diyala province, about 80 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 40 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Foreign ministry’s statement also added that Tehran had repeatedly warned the UN representative in Iraq about the continued presence of the members of the terrorist organization in the camp, and the infamous MKO members’ mischief and adventurism.

The official end of MKO terrorist group’s activities in Camp Ashraf, marked by the full evacuation of the camp from their remaining members, took place some days after the MKO terrorists clashed with a group of protesting Iraqi citizens, who were opposed to their presence in their neighborhood, on September 1.

The remaining members of MKO terrorists were transferred from Camp Ashraf (now the Camp of New Iraq) to Camp Liberty.

The MKO -- listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community -- fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, fought on the side of Saddam Hussein during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-88), and was given a camp by Saddam.

The group has been behind numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials, and was involved in the 1991 bloody repression of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq, and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country's north.

In December 2011, the United Nations and the Iraqi government agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, to Camp Liberty -- a former US military base near Baghdad International Airport.

The Iraqi government planned to close the camp at the end of December 2011, but the US pressure forced it to delay the evacuation.

 

 

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