BAGHDAD: An Iranian opposition organisation and the Iraqi government say members of the dissident group have been killed inside a contested camp in Iraq, but their accounts differ.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran says members of its Mujahedeen-e-Khalq affiliate died in a raid early Sunday that it blamed on Iraqi security forces.

Spokesman Shahin Gobadi says as many as 34 were killed.

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq's prime minister, confirms that some camp residents were killed.

He says a preliminary investigation suggests they died as a result of infighting among camp residents, and denies that Iraqi forces were involved.

Iraq's government considers the MEK's presence in Iraq illegal and wants its followers to leave.

It has previously launched deadly raids on the camp northeast of Baghdad.