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Iran will let no Iraqi refugee in if war starts: police chief |
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Mashhad, Jan 15, IRNA -- Iran's police chief has reiterated earlier announcements that the country will allow no Iraqi refugee into its territory in the event of a US attack on Baghdad. "According to the decision of the country's national security council, no refugee will be allowed into our territory if America attacks Iraq," Brigadier General Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf said in this northeastern city Tuesday. "It has been decided that the United Nations sets up camps on the fringes of borders and the refugees be settled in those camps," he added. The sites to establish camps have already been specified and governors and police in the border provinces are fully prepared to handle any probable refugee exodus, Qalibaf said. Meanwhile, Deputy Interior Minister and the head of Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs, Ahmad Hosseini, said in the western border city of Sanandaj Wednesday that Iran's general policy in the event of a probable US attack was to rush assistance to refugees inside the Iraqi soil. "The Islamic Republic's policy is to help Iraqi officials settle refugees inside the Iraqi territory and Iran will refrain from accepting refugees into its soil," he said. In the event of any security concerns, the Islamic Republic has envisaged to establish 19 camps on the border strip, Hosseini added. "These camps have been selected (to be set up) at 500 meters at the least and 10 kilometers at the most from the border strip in five provinces bordering Iraq," the official said. The Islamic Republic has predicted that a probable attack on Iraq could trigger an exodus of 800,000 refugees towards its borders, Hosseini said, adding Iran had demanded help for urgent needs, such as blankets, tents and heating equipment, from international organizations.
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