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الأحد، 10 أبريل 2011 | 
Iran hails Iraq action on former rebels
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Saturday hailed action taken by Iraq against an Iranian opposition group based there which saw deadly clashes between Baghdad's forces and the former rebels.
"The presence of any terrorist organisation on Iraqi soil, to use it as a launchpad and to conduct operations against Iraq's neighbours, is not accepted by Iraq's own constitution," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a press conference broadcast live and translated into English by Press TV.
"Iraqis must not allow activities of such groups and not shelter such terrorist groups. We appreciate the move by the Iraqi government," Salehi said.
He was responding to clashes between the Iraqi security forces and disarmed rebels of the outlawed People's Mujahedeen of Iran who remain based at Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad.
At least three people were killed on Friday when Iraqi troops clashed with stone-throwing crowds at the camp, an Iraqi security official said. The People's Mujahedeen claimed 31 of its members died in a full-scale military assault.
The United States said it was urging Iraqi officials "at the highest levels" to avoid violence and show restraint.
But Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser, Ali Musawi, told AFP on Friday that Baghdad would no longer tolerate an organisation that had been involved in "terrorist activity and harms relations with neighbours."
Nonetheless Iraq gave a commitment at the United Nations not to forcibly repatriate up to 3,500 opponents of the Iranian government at Camp Ashraf.
Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations Hamid al-Bayati told AFP that Baghdad had asked European countries to accept the Ashraf residents but had so far had no success.
The People's Mujahedeen, which describes itself as both left-wing and Islamic, opposed the Shah of Iran and now fights to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran in the 1979 revolution.
The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when now executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was at war with Iran -- as a base to operate against Tehran.
The European Union removed the People's Mujahedeen from its list of terrorist organisations in 2009, but the group remains on a similar US State Department blacklist.
The group's bases in Iraq have always been a thorn in Tehran-Baghdad relations.
"The presence of any terrorist organisation on Iraqi soil, to use it as a launchpad and to conduct operations against Iraq's neighbours, is not accepted by Iraq's own constitution," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a press conference broadcast live and translated into English by Press TV.
"Iraqis must not allow activities of such groups and not shelter such terrorist groups. We appreciate the move by the Iraqi government," Salehi said.
He was responding to clashes between the Iraqi security forces and disarmed rebels of the outlawed People's Mujahedeen of Iran who remain based at Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad.
At least three people were killed on Friday when Iraqi troops clashed with stone-throwing crowds at the camp, an Iraqi security official said. The People's Mujahedeen claimed 31 of its members died in a full-scale military assault.
The United States said it was urging Iraqi officials "at the highest levels" to avoid violence and show restraint.
But Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser, Ali Musawi, told AFP on Friday that Baghdad would no longer tolerate an organisation that had been involved in "terrorist activity and harms relations with neighbours."
Nonetheless Iraq gave a commitment at the United Nations not to forcibly repatriate up to 3,500 opponents of the Iranian government at Camp Ashraf.
Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations Hamid al-Bayati told AFP that Baghdad had asked European countries to accept the Ashraf residents but had so far had no success.
The People's Mujahedeen, which describes itself as both left-wing and Islamic, opposed the Shah of Iran and now fights to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran in the 1979 revolution.
The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when now executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was at war with Iran -- as a base to operate against Tehran.
The European Union removed the People's Mujahedeen from its list of terrorist organisations in 2009, but the group remains on a similar US State Department blacklist.
The group's bases in Iraq have always been a thorn in Tehran-Baghdad relations.
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