Clashes as Iran exiles claim 47 dead in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Clashes and explosions were reported in a camp housing Iranian exiles on Sunday, with the group claiming Iraqi troops killed 47 of their members, charges officials steadfastly denied.
The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), about 100 of whose members are living at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province near the Iranian border, also claimed security forces set fire to the group’s property in the camp, all of which was denied by Iraqi officials.
Local hospitals reported two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three were wounded, which officials attributed to angry camp residents attacking an army brigade responsible for the camp.
Medics did not, however, report any casualties among Ashraf residents.
The UN did not confirm any of the varying accounts of Sunday’s unrest, but the UN refugee agency said “it appears that deadly force has been used and that a number of people have been killed or wounded.”
The UNHCR said it “strongly condemns this attack,” adding that “the use of violence against a civilian population is unacceptable in any circumstances.”
The UN’s mission to Iraq said it was looking into the unrest, and called on the Iraqi government to investigate the incident.
Earlier this year at least eight people were killed in two mortar attacks on another camp housing the group, which is also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK).
Officials and MEK spokespeople gave wildly differing accounts of the unrest on Sunday and it was not immediately clear what caused the explosions and clashes, or the extent of the casualties.
Iraqi police and medical sources said five mortars hit the camp.