Iraqi forces surround PMOI in Diyala

CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq, March 16 (UPI) -- Iranian dissidents residing at the Camp Ashraf enclave in Iraq's Diyala province said national forces have them surrounded following efforts to close the camp.

Camp Ashraf is home to the People's Mujahedin of Iran, which opposes the clerical regime in Iran. It has an acrimonious relationship with some lawmakers in Baghdad due in part to its ties to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

U.S. officials in Iraq had extended security pledges to the group as protected persons under international law, though Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie had pledged in January to close the camp down by March.

Officials with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a PMOI affiliate, said in letters sent to United Press International that Iraqi security forces surrounded their Diyala enclave, threatening several of its members holed up in an Ashraf building.

"The Iraqi forces intend to seize the building and have warned that they would take over the building even if 40 of the residents were to get killed," the letter said, adding that security forces had lashed out at the dissidents with electric batons.

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the NCRI, issued a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama calling for direct intervention from Washington in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

The PMOI is considered a terrorist organization by several nations for its violent opposition to Iran, though it says it has abandoned militancy.

U.S. officials in Iraq did not respond to repeated requests for information.