Iraqi accuses Iranian exiles of planning attack

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A senior Iraqi official has accused an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group of planning a suicide attack against security forces, raising concern that the government may try to expel the exiles from the country. The Iraqi government has promised not to forcibly evict the Peoples' Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, from its Camp Ashraf base north of Baghdad. But National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie was quoted as saying a resident of the camp had confessed that he had been told by camp leaders to stage a suicide attack against Iraqi security forces guarding it. The Peoples' Mujahedeen denied the allegation, calling it a "sheer lie." Al-Rubaie made his allegations Monday in Iran, saying the goal was to embarrass the Iraqi government and generate international sympathy for the exiles, the state-owned Sabah newspaper reported Tuesday.