BREAKING NEWS

Iraq extends deadline for closing Iranian camp

BAGHDAD - Iraq on Wednesday extended a year-end deadline to close an Iranian dissident camp by six months, responding to a request by the UN, which is mediating the resettlement of its more than 3,000 residents, to delay the closure.
The 25-year-old Camp Ashraf, home to the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group that the United States and Iran officially consider a terrorist group, is some 65 km from Baghdad.
Iraq's Premier Nuri al-Maliki said he had agreed to extend the deadline on condition the UN transfer about 400-800 residents to other countries before the end of this year.