October 30, 2015
• Members of the Iranian opposition group MEK settled at Camp Liberty in 2012
• More than 2,000 people live there, the U.N. refugee agency says

(CNN) – Rockets slammed into a former U.S. military base housing Iranian exiles near the Baghdad airport, reportedly causing numerous casualties.
At least 80 rockets struck Camp Liberty, where members of the main Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, have been living since February 2012, said Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
According to the group, the Thursday attack killed 23 residents of the camp and injured dozens more.
“This is a most deplorable act, and I am greatly concerned at the harm that has been inflicted on those living at Camp Liberty,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. “Every effort must continue to be made for the injured and to identify and bring to account those responsible.”
About 2,200 people live at Camp Liberty, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
The U.S. State Department also weighed in on the attack.
“The United States strongly condemns today’s brutal, senseless terrorist attack … that killed and injured camp residents,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. “Our condolences go out to the families of the victims, and we hope for the swift recovery of those injured.”
The exiled Iranian opposition group was moved to Camp Liberty more than three years ago from another camp inside Iraq.
The camp was billed as a temporary facility at the time. A senior U.S. administration official said there were plans to keep it open until all of the camp residents were resettled outside Iraq.
Members of the Iranian opposition group have been housed in Iraq for more than 25 years. Exiles, described as Iranian resistance figures and their sympathizers, live at Camp Liberty, also known as Camp Huriyya.
And since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf “noncombatants” and “protected persons” under the Geneva Conventions.