Attack on Iranian dissident camp condemned

LONDON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- The British government called on the Iraqi government to cooperate with investigators probing a weekend attack on Iranian dissidents.

Dozens of members of an Iranian dissident community housed in Camp Ashraf, an enclave in Diyala province, were killed or injured during a weekend attack by the Iraqi military. The camp houses members of an Iranian pro-democracy movement.

British Minister for the Middle East and Africa Alistair Burt said he was "appalled" by the violence at the enclave. He said the Iraqi government must do "everything necessary to ensure the safety of the residents and care for survivors and must conduct an urgent and transparent investigation into what took place."

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said in a statement Monday she was seeking clarity on the details of the "brutal incident."

Baghdad and the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding in 2011 outlining the voluntary relocation of members of the dissident community from their Camp Ashraf enclave in Diyala province to a former U.S. military base in Baghdad.

The United States last year removed the group, the People's Mujahedin of Iran, from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.