Iranian refugees flee camp in Iraq ? UNHCR

[LauraK]

GENEVA (AP) ? Hundreds of Iranian refugees have fled a camp in Iraq because of safety fears and lack of aid, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Some 405 people are believed to be in the northern Iraqi town of Kalar after fleeing the Al Tash camp west of Baghdad and more are expected to follow, said Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

A UNHCR team visited Al Tash two weeks ago for the first time since the US-led war on Iraq in March. Around 12,000 people live in the camp, most of them Kurds from Iran who fled their homeland fearing oppression following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 or left in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.

The refugees face shortages of food and water and the electricity supply to the camp is irregular, UNHCR said. <cut

Coalition forces have organised patrols of the camp and surrounding community, but Al Tash remains a ?no-go zone? for aid workers, Janowski told reporters.

?The security problems are such that it makes it very difficult for us to make regular contact with the refugees,? he said.
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