Iraq says working to expel Iranian rebel group

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Sunday that Iraq was trying to expel an Iranian rebel group, a key demand of Tehran, although the U.S. military said most of the group's fighters had already signed a ceasefire.

The Mujahadeen e-Khalq (MEK) group is described by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations as the largest and most militant group opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"The presence of those terrorists is forbidden by the constitution and we are working to get rid of them," Talabani said of the MEK at a news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The MEK is listed by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization but its stand against Iran has won it some support from U.S. and European lawmakers, the Council on Foreign Relations says.

U.S. military spokesman Major Winfield Danielson said there was a group of about 3,360 MEK under "protected person status" at a refugee camp in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad...........