In a statement received here, the group said another 43 fighters were wounded and several others missing after clashes Thursday and Friday near camps in Al-Khalis, Jalula and Al-Muqdadiyah, towns north and northeast of Baghdad.

Iranian forces "entered Iraqi territory and captured parts of the Iraqi (border) town of Khanaqin and surrounding areas," the statement said.

For its part, Iranian state television reported that there had been clashes between Mujahedeen and "Iraqi fighters" in the desert region of As-Saadiyah, which is eight kilometres (five miles) from Jalula.

It did not identify who the Iraqi fighters were, but said five of them had been killed and that the Mujahedeen suffered "heavy losses."

The Mujahedeen says the Iranian government routinely uses the term "Iraqi fighters" when referring to activities involving its own forces.

The group charged on April 1 that Tehran was preparing to enter the war in Iraq to attack the opposition's camps and seize Iraqi territory.

It claimed that Iranian forces had moved 46 army and elite Revolutionary Guards brigades, equipped with tanks and missiles, to the border with Iraq.

The People's Mujahedeen was instrumental in the overthrow of the shah of Iran in 1979 but later forced out of the country by the Islamic regime and set up camp in Iraq, where it boasts several bases and thousands of fighters.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States the group was tagged a terrorist organisation by Washington and the European Union, an allegation it also strongly denies, saying it is a legitimate resistance movement.

The group has said it is neutral in the US-led war against Saddam Hussein's regime.

SPACE.WIRE