Back to Brief on Iran
The clerical regime fired at least 66 Scud missiles at seven Mojahedin camps and several Iraqi cities and towns from Jalawla to Basra from 3:00 am to 1:00 pm today.
A number of innocent Iraqi citizens and civilians residing in the area were killed or wounded particularly in Jalawla and Basra. One Mojahedin member, Reza Zahmatkesh, 38, was slain.
Yesterday, Revolutionary
Guards and army commanders had a meeting with mullahs' Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and were
briefed in this respect.
A number of them were stationed
in missile centers in Kermanshah, Ilam and Khuzistan near the border.
"Serious Escalation" of Attacks by Regime Against the
Mojahedin, VOICE OF AMERICA, APRIL 18
The Iraqi government has condemned Iranian missile attacks against an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq...
A Western diplomat in Baghdad called the latest attacks a serious escalation by Iran against the Mojahedin in Iraq...
The People's Mojahedin is Iran's main armed opposition group. It has tanks, heavy guns and helicopter gunships, and in recent months, it has stepped up... raids as well as attacks deep inside Iran, including the capital Tehran...
Mojahedin leaders say that
Tehran launched Wednesday's attacks to divert attention from growing problems
inside Iran and upcoming presidential elections in June...
Iran Exile Bases in Iraq Under Missile Attack, REUTERS, APRIL 18
BAGHDAD - An Iranian exile group said on Wednesday that Iran had fired 48 Scud missiles at its camps inside Iraq, causing several casualties among Iraqi civilians.
"Camp Habib, 45 km (30 miles) north of Basra, was hit in two series of attacks with 12 missiles," Fareed Suleimani, a spokesman for the Mujahideen Khalq opposition group, told Reuters.
He said missiles were also fired towards other Mujahideen Khalq camps.
These included Camp Faezeh near the Iraqi city of Kut, 172 km (103 miles) south of Baghdad, Camp Ashraf near Khalis, 110 km (65 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Camp Hamyoun near Amarah, 365 km (213 miles) south of the capital, and Camp Anzali near the Iraqi town of Jalawla.
Jalawla is 120 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad and about 60 km (35 miles) from the border with Iran.
Suleimani said 10 missiles landed near the Iraqi town of Khalis, where one of the group's camps was located, and five other missiles landed in the vicinity of Kut.
Mujahideen bases have been
the target of air and rocket attacks by Iran.
Mother and Child Killed, 19 Wounded in 'Iranian Missile Attacks', AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, APRIL 18
BAGHDAD - Baghdad said Iranian surface-to-surface missile attacks on Iraqi territory on Wednesday left a mother and her six-year-old daughter dead and 19 others wounded.
"The Iranian attacks left 33-year-old woman Dina Jaber Khadir and her six-year-old daughter Shaima Hatim dead and 19 others wounded in Jalula," 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the official INA news agency reported.
The attacks also destroyed houses, a mosque and a school in Jlula, INA said.
An Iraqi government spokesman
had earlier said that Iranian forces had fired 56 surface-to-surface missiles
at Iraqi territory.
Iranians Hold Worldwide Demonstration to Condemn Mullahs' Missile Attack, IRAN ZAMIN NEWS AGENCY, APRIL 18
Following the clerical regime's missile attack this morning Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance staged protest rallies in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Melbourne, Ottawa, Washington, D.C., Houston, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Bremen, Cologne and Bonn.
Protesters called on the UN Secretary General and the Security Council as well as all governments to firmly condemn this unprecedented crime.
Following this criminal attack, National Council of Resistance of Iran President Massoud Rajavi said: "The scale of today's missile attacks and the use of Scud missiles as weapons of mass destruction show that the mullahs' regime is determined to export crisis only weeks ahead of presidential elections." He added: "Mullahs began this crisis-mongering with the arrests in Tehran and other cities in recent weeks..."