On April 8, 2011, Iraqi forces, backed by tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery launched a massive assault on defensless and unarmed residents of Camp Ashraf, killing 36 and wounding several hundreds of the residents. The April attack, described by the Chairman John Kerry of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as “massacre”, left 36 dead and hundreds wounded. In both attacks US forces refrained from intervening to stop the bloodshed.
Since transfer of Camp Ashraf’s security from the US military forces to Iraqi government, the camp has been under a barbaric siege where delivery of food and basic staples, has been hampered and visits by family members, human rights organizations, residents’ lawyers, and independent journalists have been disallowed.