Iraqi accuses Iranian exiles of planning attack

[Alamuti Lotus]

Source: Associated Press

BAGHDAD – A senior Iraqi official has accused an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group of planning a suicide attack against Iraqi security forces, raising concern that the government in Baghdad may try to expel the exiles from the country.

The Iraqi government has promised not to forcibly evict the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran from its Camp Ashraf base north of Baghdad.

But National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie was quoted as saying that a camp resident confessed that his leaders told him to carry out a suicide attack against Iraqi security forces guarding Ashraf.

The People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, denied the allegation as a "sheer lie."

Iraq is under pressure from neighboring Iran to deport the group. Although the U.S. has branded People's Mujahedeen a terrorist organization, Washington does not want its members deported to Iran.

Iraq assumed responsibility for Camp Ashraf from the U.S. on Jan. 1 under a new security agreement. The U.S. said it would maintain a presence at the base.

Al-Rubaie made his allegation Monday in Iran. He said the goal of the alleged plot was to embarrass the Iraqi government and generate international sympathy for the exiles, the state-owned Al-Sabah newspaper reported Tuesday.

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