IRAQ/USA: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urges estraint after at least 10 Iranian exiles are killed in clashes with Iraqi security forces

Record ID: 347704

  • Title: IRAQ/USA: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urges estraint after at least 10 Iranian exiles are killed in clashes with Iraqi security forces
  • Date: 9th April 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN WHO CLAIMS HER FAMILY LIVES IN CAMP ASHRAF, SAYING: "The only message I have and the only thing I want to say both for my father and many of my friends that are living in Camp Ashraf, they have protected person status not to be treated the way they are right now and I see that the U.S. is directly responsible for this.
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6GS62HWSQGOFF3FHK65LD9HBN
  • Story Text: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged the Iraqi government to show restraint on Friday (April 8) after several Iranian exiles were killed in clashes with Iraqi security forces.
    Hospital sources said at least 10 Iranian exiles were killed at Camp Ashraf after Iraqi security forces clashed with residents of the Iranian dissident camp north of Baghdad overnight.
    "We've obviously been monitoring the situation in Camp Ashraf and Diyala. We're very concerned with reports of death and injuries resulting this morning for the clash between Iraqi security forces and the Mojahedin-e-Khalq. I urge the Iraqi government to show restraint and live up to their commitment to residents of Ashraf in accordance with Iraqi law and their International obligations," Gates said.
    Gates who spoke ahead of meetings Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders, to discuss extending the U.S. military presence in Iraq beyond the end of this year, told reporters some military assistance would be given to the people at the Camp.
    "We have a nearby presence and I was just told we maybe rendering some medical assistance but that's about the extent of it at this point," added Gates.
    The Iran Policy Committee, a Washington-based group that has close ties to Iranian exiles and seeks to influence U.S. policy toward Iran, hosted a news conference to address what they claimed to be the "massacre" of at least 31 Ashraf residents and the wounding of at least 300 people.
    The group displayed video released by the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) that purports to show Iraq security forces firing on Ashraf residents. Reuters is unable to independently verify the content of the video.
    Attendee U.S. Governor Howard Dean condemned what he called "murder" and called for immediate action by the U.S. government.
    "This is about murder and ultimately this is about genocide and for our American troops to be standing a few kilometers away watching this happen is wrong and I call upon the President of the United States to stop this now," Dean said.
    Ali al-Moussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser, said clashes broke out after government forces tried to reclaim land from camp residents and return it to the farmers who owned it.
    The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the PMOI's political wing, said Iraqi forces were ordered by Maliki to attack the camp, in restive Diyala province about 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a remote location largely inaccessible to journalists.
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