The New York Times reported that a barrage of rockets slammed late Thursday into a former military base near the Baghdad International Airport that houses an Iranian refugee group, killing at least 20 people, the exiles said.
The NYT cited a police report saying the rockets hit Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base that now houses the exiled Iranian opposition group, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. The MEK said dozens of Iranian refugees were wounded as well.
The statement from Mujahedeen-e-Khalq said that “due to darkness of the night, the exact number of dead and wounded has not been established.”
The MEK statement on casualty figures could not be independently verified because of the late hour of the attack and the camp’s inaccessibility to media.
A hospital official confirmed the casualty figures.
This was not the first attack since Camp Liberty became home to the Iranian group, which is strongly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, the parent organization of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, blamed the attack on Iran.
“The Iranian regime’s agents within the Iraqi Government are responsible for the latest assault,” she said in a statement. “The United States and the United Nations are fully aware of this reality.”
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the attack in statement issued Thursday night.
“We are consulting with the Government of Iraq to ascertain the full extent of this unprovoked attack,” the statement said. “No matter the circumstances, on this point we remain absolute: the United States remains committed to assisting the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the relocation of all Camp Hurriya residents to a permanent and safe location outside of Iraq.”
The group regularly reports worsening health conditions within their isolated camp and accuses the Iraqi government of neglect and human rights abuses.