Manama: The hit squad that killed a top Hamas commander in a hotel room in Dubai injected him with a drug that induced a heart attack, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
The squad then photographed all the documents in the briefcase of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, 50, and left a "do not disturb" sign on the door, the London paper reported.
The body, with no suspicious signs, was discovered by staff at the hotel after lunch on January 20 and doctors diagnosed a heart attack.
Read the Gulf News editorial on the case
However, nine days later, after blood samples sent to Paris for analysis showed signs of poison, Hamas announced his death and blamed Mossad for the assassination, the paper said.
Citing unnamed Middle Eastern sources, The Sunday Times said that Al Mabhouh had been tracked from the moment he boarded Emirates flight EK 912 at Damascus at 10.05am on January 19.
"He was said to have been travelling on a false passport and on arrival in Dubai was followed by two men described as Europeans carrying European passports."
Al Mabhouh, who moved to Damascus after leaving Gaza in 1989, is blamed by Israel for the abduction of two Israeli soldiers who were later killed.
