Thursday, September 2, 2010

Dubai’s police chief has said his force has not ruled out the involvement of Israel’s spy agency Mossad in the murder of a top Hamas leader at a Dubai hotel room.

“It could be Mossad, or another party,” police chief Dhahi Khalfan was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

“Personally, I don’t exclude any possibility. I don’t exclude any party that has an interest in the assassination” of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhuh, Khalfan added.

“There were seven or more people holding passports from different European countries” in the group suspected of killing Al Mabhouh.

Khalfan refused to name the countries, but added: “We are currently in contact with these European countries to verify the authenticity of the passports.”

Hamas on Friday accused Israel of assassinating Al Mabhouh, who was found dead in his room at the Al Bustan Rotana on January 20, and vowed revenge.

Khalfan said “it seems (Al Mabhouh) opened the door” of his room, letting his killers in. “Al Mabhouh was suffocated,” Khalfan said, adding that “strangulation is possible”.

Meanwhile Hamas said yesterday that Al Mabhouh was targeted by Israel for his role in smuggling “special weapons” to the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s government declined to officially comment on the death, but Israeli security sources linked him to rockets and other arms that reach Gaza from Iran.

Hamas officials have declined to say what Al Mabhouh, who had long lived in the Syrian capital Damascus, was doing in the Gulf - though a Hamas source said he was active in armed operations “until the moment of his assassination”.

A former Mossad officer, Ram Yigra, suggested that Al Mabhouh may have fallen foul of criminal arms dealers rather than Israel.

“In the end of the day, Mr Mabhouh was into arms smuggling, which means shady relationships,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

Fayek al-Mabhouh, the dead man’s brother, said however: “He wasn’t involved in any gang. He wasn’t involved in any crime... So who had an interest in killing him? Israel.”

About Mahmoud Al Mabhouh
Born in Jabaliya, northern Gaza, Al Mabhouh was a founder of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Hamas said Al Mabhouh was behind the capture of two Israeli soldiers in separate operations in 1989 during the early stages of a 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising. Soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sadon were both later killed.

Al Mabhouh also masterminded a number of other attacks on Israeli targets and Israeli authorities demolished his home in Gaza in retaliation.

He spent several spells in Israeli custody. After his last release, “he spent his life being hounded by the Zionist occupier until he succeeded in leaving the Gaza Strip”, Hamas said.

Over the years, a number of Hamas leaders have died in operations Israel calls “targeted killings”.

In 2004, Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in Gaza.

One month later, another Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, was killed when two missiles hit his car.