A MISSILE attack on Camp Liberty, home to members of the exiled Iranian opposition, has left at least 20 dead and many others wounded, it was reported last week.

The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which has almost 3000 members housed at the camp in Iraq, says that 23 were killed on Thursday of last week. An Iraqi Shia militia, the Mukhtar Army, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Iraqi police said that 16 rockets had hit the camp.

A statement issued by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, strongly condemned the “brutal, senseless terrorist attack” that had killed and injured residents. It urged the Iraqi government to provide additional security for the camp’s residents, and to find the perpetrators and hold them to account.

A statement from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) estimates that the attack has caused damage to camp infrastructure of more than $10 million.

Camp Liberty has been subjected to previous attacks, and a UN resettlement programme is making slow progress.

Iran report. The latest report of the UN’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran was published last week. It documents concerns, including restrictions on the rights of religious minorities and on freedom of expression. Iran executes more people per capita than any other country: at least 700 so far this year.