Tasnim � Head of Iran�s Civil Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali said the US government is employing the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO or MEK) in the cognitive and psycho war on the Islamic Republic.

The MKO terrorists have always been puppets of the United States and, of course, they have an expiration date, Brigadier General Jalali said in a speech on Monday.

�Fortunately, Iraq has been cleaned of the MKO terrorists today but now they are present in a location in Albania and are pursuing new acts of treachery this time in cyberspace,� he added.

�The Americans are using the MKO in a cognitive war,� the official said, adding, �Many comments that are full of hatred, insults and mockery are uploaded by these very MKO members using fake accounts.�

Brigadier General Jalali further emphasized many news reports in cyberspace which are against the Islamic establishment of Iran are rooted in the psychological operations of the MKO that are based on lies.

The MKO - listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community - fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq and was given a camp by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

They fought on the side of Saddam during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-88). They were also involved in the bloody repression of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq in 1991 and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The notorious group is also responsible for killing thousands of Iranian civilians and officials after the victory of the Islamic revolution in 1979.

More than 17,000 Iranians, many of them civilians, have been killed at the hands of the MKO in different acts of terrorism including bombings in public places, and targeted killings.