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Iraq has rejected a UN appeal to extend the year-end deadline to shut down Camp Ashraf, saying the MKO anti-Iran terrorist group based there is a “criminal gang.”
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told AFP on Thursday: “The decision we made to evacuate the camp by the end of 2011 is irreversible."
Maliki went on to describe the MKO as a “criminal gang,” adding, “We cannot permit a criminal gang to remain here.”
The comments by the Iraqi prime minister come on the heels of an appeal last week by the UN for the extension of the deadline to close down Camp Ashraf.
Camp Ashraf, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) west of the Iranian border, houses some 3,400 members of MKO terrorist group which is notorious for carrying out numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials.
The terrorist group is also known to have collaborated with Saddam in the bloody repression of the 1991 Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country's north.
Baghdad considers Camp Ashraf and its suspected terrorist residents as a threat to its national security and insists it is determined to close down the terrorist base by the end of 2011.
While the MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under the United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult, The New York Times recently reported that Washington is mulling over removing the MKO from its terrorist watch list and giving refuge to its members.
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Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told AFP on Thursday: “The decision we made to evacuate the camp by the end of 2011 is irreversible."
Maliki went on to describe the MKO as a “criminal gang,” adding, “We cannot permit a criminal gang to remain here.”
The comments by the Iraqi prime minister come on the heels of an appeal last week by the UN for the extension of the deadline to close down Camp Ashraf.
Camp Ashraf, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) west of the Iranian border, houses some 3,400 members of MKO terrorist group which is notorious for carrying out numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials.
The terrorist group is also known to have collaborated with Saddam in the bloody repression of the 1991 Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country's north.
Baghdad considers Camp Ashraf and its suspected terrorist residents as a threat to its national security and insists it is determined to close down the terrorist base by the end of 2011.
While the MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under the United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult, The New York Times recently reported that Washington is mulling over removing the MKO from its terrorist watch list and giving refuge to its members.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
