A US passenger plane transferred the MKO terrorists, who had been holed up in US base 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.
US charter flight transferred 155 Mojahedin Khalq terror commanders to Albania
An arrest warrant had been issued for the terrorists by the Iraqi government and they fled the country with fake identities and passports.
According to the sources in Iraq US plane 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 for 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.
Le Figaro: Mojahedin Khalq (aka MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) Fight alogside insurgents in Syria
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.
Faezeh Mohabatkar, Saddam’s Privat Army commander now working for Mojahedin Khalq Terrror group in Tirana
The group of People's Mujahedin of Iran, or Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MKO), which been operating from Iraq since 1986, is moving its members to a new base in Albania to continue the struggle against the Iranian government, according to Albanian media.
MKO has a base in Albanian capital of Tirana already and new member will stationed in new place call Mojgan camp.
Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport
In past years, the MKO, led from Paris by Maryam Rajavi, has sent groups of members from their present location near Baghdad to Albania, where the group has acquired land and properties.
A group of 15 of the group’s leaders reportedly went there recently to set up a base.
The Iraqi newspaper Assabah Aljadeed is citing sources in Paris who claim the alleged plans are leading to a political storm in the Albanian capital Tirana.
"“The Albanian government fears that the camp will turn into something like Ashraf Camp previously. A base for military training, planning and preparation for military operations in Iran and abroad,” the paper reported."
After 1991 Iraq war, the MKO helped Saddam put down the Kurdish uprising just north of the group’s main base.
The US invasion in 2003 led to the group being disarmed, and hundreds of disenchanted members defected. The remainder stayed at Ashraf Camp and forged close ties to the militant Sunni tribes of Diyala province, some of which were working with Al-Qaida in Iraq .
In 2013, at the request of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Albania agreed to take in over 200 of MKO members. Since then, some 400 members have moved from Iraq to Albania. The total number of MKO members in Albania is expected to reach an estimated 500 members.
Interlink, an organisation of former MKO-members in London, warned against the plans for the camp in Albania.
Part of the deal arranged by Clinton was the removal of MKO from the US list of terrorist organisations.
Now, with politics changing after the nuclear deal between Iran and the US, the MKO is scrambling to find new friends, according to Khodabandeh.
"“MKO will make a new enclave there that is outside the law, where they will be rearmed and invite people in for training,” said Massoud Khodabandeh, director of Interlink."
He said there have been reports that the MKO even offered the Saudis to help fight against the Shiites in Yemen.
Khodabandeh said that while various routes to Turkey, Syria and Iraq are under scrutiny, “terrorist commanders from any mercenary group can slip beneath the radar and seek training and logistical support in Tirana.”
“What better location to establish a clandestine terrorist training camp than in Albania? It is in Europe, but not in the EU and therefore not so open to scrutiny by the international community. It is a Muslim country but is also notorious for corruption and mafia-like gangs,” he said.
“The message is that the MKO have branched out and are open to do business with any terrorist group.”
To add to this potential crisis, the families of some MKO members have protested outside Camp Liberty, claiming the group’s leadership is stealing their spouse by moving them to Albania.
Some of these spouses have reportedly not seen their loved ones since they joined the MKO.
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