Dubai: Dubai Police on Monday promised to reveal "the identities of the suspects and the party involved" in the murder of the senior Hamas military commander in a Dubai hotel.
The police had said a professional gang whose members carried European passports were behind the assassination of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh on January 20, hours after he arrived in Dubai.
"Very soon we will reveal more information [about the assassination] and reveal the identities and the parties involved," Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, told Gulf News.
It is believed that seven men were involved in the murder, which according to the police chief took place inside Al Mabhouh's hotel room. He denied reports that it took place in the corridor.
A police source said that a family member asked both the hotel and the police to check on Al Mabhouh. "That's when we were notified about his presence in the country," he said.
The suspects had left the country before his body was discovered the next day in his hotel, police had said.
Lt Gen Dahi said the Hamas official was most likely stopping over in Dubai. He was planning to travel a day later to another country, the police chief said but gave no other details.
According to reports, the Hamas official, who lived in Syria, was travelling to Iran.
Lt Gen Dahi told the London-based daily Asharq Al Awsat earlier that Hamas will not be allowed to take part in the ongoing investigation. "If the Hamas movement wants to take part in the investigation, our response will be that this is a sovereign matter of the state and that we will not let any group to participate in it with us," he said.
He also blamed Hamas for the lack of protection to its official. "If he was such an important figure, why didn't he have enough protection similar to what Hamas provides its other leaders?" Lt Gen Dahi asked.
