3 MKO Terrorists Killed in Rocket Attack in Iraq

The rocket attack on Camp Liberty -- a former US military base near Baghdad International Airport – has killed three members of the notorious group, while several other members have been injured.

Without confirming any casualties, head of Iraq's civil aviation authority Nasser Bandar said three rockets hit near a military site in the airport area.

He added that the attack did not interrupt the flights as it “was outside the limits of the civil airport."

Later, Reuter quoted a Paris-based spokesman for the MKO terrorist organization as saying three group members had been killed when Camp Liberty was hit with dozens of missiles.

Meanwhile, the al-Mukhtar Army militia has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army militia, told Reuters his group had fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds at the camp.

"We've asked (the government) to expel them from the country many times, but they are still here," he said.

After the incident, the US State Department condemned the attack "in the strongest terms." In a statement, it urged the Iraqi government to take additional steps to secure the camp against further violence and "to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable for the attack."

In a similar incident on September 1, an attack on Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala killed 52 members of the terrorist organization, including some top MKO commanders and members of its leadership council.

The group had accused Iraqi troops of carrying out the September assault, but the Iraqi officials said the violence began with infighting among camp residents.

The official end of MKO terrorist group’s activities in Camp Ashraf took place some days after that incident.

The remaining members of MKO terrorists were transferred from Camp Ashraf (now the Camp of New Iraq) to Camp Liberty.

The MKO -- listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community -- fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, fought on the side of Saddam Hussein during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-88), and was given a camp by Saddam.

The group has been behind numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials, and was involved in the 1991 bloody repression of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq, and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country's north.