About 155 Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorists flee Iraq to Albania: Reports

A file photo of Camp Liberty’s premises near Baghdad International Airport

At least 155 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), including a number of ringleaders, have reportedly fled Iraq to Albania.

A US passenger plane transferred the MKO terrorists, who had been holed up in Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, early on Thursday, Didehban Strategic Institute reported.

Several high-ranking officials of the MKO terrorist group, possibly its ringleader Massoud Rajavi, were reportedly on board the US plane.

An arrest warrant had been issued for the terrorists by the Iraqi government and fled the country’s territory by using fake identities and passports.

Didehban also quoted informed sources in Iraq as saying that the US plane had had no other passenger but the MKO terrorists.

There is still no word if any MKO member remains in Camp Liberty but the terrorists’ departure has been reportedly facilitated by the United States, the United Nations and with the cooperation of Saudi Arabia.

There is a deep-seated resentment toward MKO in Iraq because of its criminal past. The group widely supported former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his brutal crackdown on opponents. 

The terror group also sided with Saddam during his 1980-1988 war on Iran.

Iraqi leaders have long urged MKO remnants to leave the Arab country but a complete eviction of the terrorists has been hampered by the US and European support of the group.

The terrorist group had to flee Iran shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 after carrying out a spate of assassinations and bombings which took the lives of many top officials and civilians.  

In December 2011, the UN and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala Province to Camp Liberty, which is a former US military base.

The last group of the MKO terrorists was evicted by the Iraqi government in September 2013 and relocated to the camp to await potential relocation to third countries.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.