Clashes between Iraqi forces, Mujahideen Khalq leave casualties

DIALA / IraqiNews.com: At least one person was killed and 18 others were wounded on Friday morning in clashes between Iraqi forces and Mujahideen Khalq elements, according to an army source. “Clashes erupted this morning between army forces and elements of Iranian Mujahideen Khalq in Diala, where one Iranian element was killed and 18 others, including 6 Iraqi soldiers, were wounded,” the source, who asked to remain anonymous, told IraqiNews.com news agency. The Iranian group announced on its website that nine of its elements were killed in an attack by Iraqi forces. The Iranian opposition organization of Mujahideen-e-Khalq has been based in Camp Ashraf in Diala province, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, since 1980s during the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war.   Many political parties in the Iraqi government have been striving to drive the organization out of the Iraqi territories claiming that the Mujahideen-e-Khalq fighters took part in suppressing the Shiite uprising that broke out in southern Iraq after the second Gulf War in 1991 against the former regime. Baaquba, the capital of Diala, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. SH (TS) 584