Death toll in Iran exile camp attack rises to seven: MEK

PARIS: The death toll from a weekend mortar and rocket attack on an Iranian exiles' camp in Iraq rose Tuesday to seven, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, or the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) said.

The MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris, said in a statement that a 57-year-old had died from wounds received in Saturday's attack on Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad housing about 3,000 members of the MEK.

The MEK, which gave an initial toll of six dead and around 100 wounded, said several more of its members remained in a serious condition.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack but MEK leader Maryam Radjavi on Monday denounced what she called the "crimes of the Iranian state".

She noted that the camp was inside a giant military zone and that the perpetrators could only have got inside with help from "within the Iraqi government".

The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.

It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran by peaceful means.

Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the United States in September 2012.