Rocket hits Iran dissident camp in Iraq

At least one rocket hit a camp in Iraq housing Iranian dissidents, officials and the group based there said Wednesday, after Baghdad and the U.N. signed a pact to resettle its residents. The strike, the second in three days, occurred at about 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, but caused no casualties, according to a spokesman for the camp and an official at the Iraqi security command center in Diyala provincial capital Baquba. “One rocket landed last night in Camp Ashraf from an unknown source, and there were apparently no casualties,” an official from Diyala operations command said on condition of anonymity. The official said an ambulance was dispatched to the camp, home to 3,400 members of the People’s Mujahedeen, but returned with no victims. Shahriar Kia, a spokesman for the camp, said in an emailed statement that multiple rockets hit the camp at 8:00 pm, and confirmed there had been no casualties. He blamed groups loyal to Iran of being behind the strike, and a previous rocket attack on the evening of December 25. On Sunday, Iraq and the U.N. signed a pact under which Baghdad will resettle members of the People’s Mujahedeen and provide security for them while the U.N. determines their refugee status. The agreement was signed by U.N. special envoy Martin Kobler and Iraqi National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh. It did not give the location to which the residents would be moved or provide a timeline, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said the camp will now close in April, rather than at the end of this year. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said U.S. embassy officials would visit the new site “regularly and frequently” in support of the U.N. plan. Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the rebel People’s Mujahedeen to set up the camp during the war with Iran in the 1980s. When Saddam was overthrown in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, the camp came under U.S. military protection, but American forces handed over security responsibilities for the site to the Baghdad authorities in January 2009. The camp has been back in the spotlight since a controversial April raid by Iraqi security forces left at least 34 people dead and scores injured.