Dubai: Dubai Police have identified the criminal group behind the alleged assassination of a senior Hamas military commander in Dubai.
The suspects, holding European passports, managed to flee the country following the murder in a hotel.
The Dubai Government media office announced it was able to clear up the mystery surrounding the murder of Mahmoud Abdul Rauof Mohammad Hassan (known as Mahmoud Al Mabhouh), a member of Hamas.
"The ongoing investigation will speed up and police will be presenting the suspects to court for trial as soon as possible, in coordination with Interpol. The suspects left the UAE before the deceased's body was found in a Dubai hotel," said the statement.
A responsible security source announced the crime "was most probably carried out by a criminal gang used to carrying out similar crimes," which followed the victim before entering the UAE.
Ample proof
The source added although the crime was committed professionally and swiftly, they left behind ample proof and fingerprints which will help police trace and arrest them very soon.
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, told Gulf News yesterday: "The complete forensic medical report will be released soon to reveal the details of the crime. It is still early to start pointing fingers on who is behind this crime."
His reply was in response to whether Israeli spy agency Mossad, as Hamas claims, is behind the assassination.
"It doesn't matter whether he was electrocuted or poisoned … at this point our investigations revealed that the person was murdered and did not die due to natural causes," he said.
The group is believed to be composed of four members who had planned to carry out the crime months before and entered the country with fake passports, said a source.
The 50-year-old Palestinian military commander is believed to have entered the country on January 19 using a different name and passport, said a security source. His body was found on the afternoon of January 20 at the Dubai hotel where he was staying. A Dubai security source said an employee in the Al Garhoud area found the body in his room. The hotel refused to comment on the matter.
Some security sources indicated the deceased was tortured before he was murdered. It is not yet clear whether he was electrocuted or poisoned.
According to the Israeli news website Ynet, Al Mabhouh's brother Fayed said: "The assassination attempt was one of many."
According to agencies, Al Mabhouh's family has no details on the circumstances of Mahmoud's death.
"Hamas' overseas branch officially informed the family 10 days ago that he was dead, but only tonight after all of the forensic examinations, his body was turned over to Hamas and we were notified at two in the morning," Al Mabhouh's brother, Fayed said.
"We hold Israel responsible for the assassination of our brother and leader," the statement from the Hamas military movement said, adding Hamas would "retaliate for this Zionist crime at the appropriate moment."
This is the second military figure assassinated in Dubai in less than a year. The emirate witnessed the assassination of former Chechen commander Sulim Yamadayev on March 28, 2009.
Attacks: Previous Israeli assassinations
Israel has killed dozens of leaders and military figures in Hamas, which was founded two decades ago as a religious resistance movement against the Israeli occupation, and Hezbollah.
In 2004, Hamas founder Shaikh Ahmad Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship attack in Gaza. A month later, another Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdul Aziz Al Rantissi was killed when two missiles hit his car.
In 1997, Mossad agents poisoned Hamas's present leader Khalid Mesha'al in a botched assassination bid in Amman that nearly ruptured Israel's relations with its eastern neighbour.
On February 13, 2008, Hezbollah leader Emad Moughnieh was assassinated in Damascus.
Syria, which is seeking peace with Israel, resisted US pressure several years ago to expel the Hamas leadership.
Hamas also has a presence in Lebanon. A bomb in Beirut killed two of its members in December last in mysterious circumstances.
Hamas said at the time that Israel was an obvious suspect but stopped short of openly accusing Israel of the killings.
The Mossad never openly discusses its operations and Israel's government typically does not comment on incidents in which the Mossad's involvement is suspected.
Reaction: This is an open war, Mesha'al says at funeral
Hamas' top leader Khalid Mesha'al vowed yesterday to avenge the assassination of the group's top commander.
Mesha'al, Hamas' exiled leader, blamed Israel for Mahmoud Abdul Rauof Al Mabhouh's death and pledged to strike back.
"This is an open war ... We will avenge the blood of Al Mabhouh," he said, standing next to Al Mabhouh's coffin during his funeral in Syria on Friday. Mesha'al made an impassioned speech to mourners at Al Mabhouh's funeral at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk on the edge of Damascus. Hamas's green flag covered the body as it was lowered into the grave.
Mesha'al described Al Mabhouh as a "great man" who fought the Israelis for 30 years. "I say to you Zionists, do not rejoice. You killed him but his sons will fight you," he said. "God already took our leaders and loved ones, but resistance goes on. Palestine is a blessed land. It will not remain patient."
- Compiled from agencies
