Iraqi soldiers and riot police stormed a camp housing Iran's main exiled opposition Tuesday, triggering violent clashes that left at least 260 people wounded. Residents of Camp Ashraf, which was disarmed by the United States in 2003 and surrounded by American forces until recently, claimed the Iraqi troops opened fire and beat people with batons, killing four people. The Iraqi government denied violence was used against the exiles. The action sharply escalated tensions that have been on the rise since the US military turned over responsibility for the camp to the Iraqis as part of a security pact on Jan. 1. The seizure of Camp Ashraf comes after months of a tense stand-off at the u Camp Ashraf houses around 3,500 Mujahedeen supporters and their families. It was set up in the 1980s, when now executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with Iran, as a base to operate against the Iranian government. base in Diyala, north of Baghdad. “After the failure of negotiations with the Mujahedeen to enter peacefully, the Iraqi army entered Camp Ashraf with force and it now controls all of the interior and all entrances to the camp,” an Iraqi military source said. The offensive followed a declaration by the People's Mujahedeen, which is regarded as a terrorist outfit by Washington, that it was ready to return to Iran if the authorities there would guarantee its members would not be abused. It also coincided with a visit to Iraq by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates but the top US commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said the US military had no advance warning. The Iraqi authorities had pledged to the Americans previously that they “would deal with the MEK (People's Mujahedeen) in a humane fashion,” Odierno said. US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington was “closely monitoring” the seizure, and added that the Iraqi government had “stated to us that no Camp Ashraf resident will be forcibly transferred to a country where they have r __
