Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in a hotel room in Dubai
Dubai police says forensic tests show a Hamas commander was drugged and then suffocated in his hotel room.
Police officials say tests showed a substantial amount of a fast-acting muscle relaxant called succinylcholine was found in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's bloodstream.
The analysis was part of tests conducted after al-Mabhouh was killed Jan. 19. Dubai authorities have blamed a hit squad organized by Israel's Mossad secret service.
The drug is sometimes used to administer a breathing tube or anesthesia.
Dubai police on Sunday also said a third Palestinian suspect is in custody. At least 26 other suspects are wanted after being accused of traveling on fake European and Australian passports.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli Cabinet minister says the assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai last month shows any member of the militant Islamic group can be targeted.
Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio on Sunday that he had no idea who killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. But he said the slaying shows Hamas that "none of their people are untouchable."
Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, said the killing would deter other Islamic militant groups.
Al-Mabhouh was killed by assassins in a posh Dubai hotel last month. Israel says al-Mabhouh was involved in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. He was also wanted by Israel for the 1989 killing of two Israeli soldiers.
Israel hasn't confirmed or denied involvement. But its Mossad spy agency has widely been suspected.
A Hamas commander who was killed in his Dubai hotel room was drugged and then suffocated, according to results of forensic tests released by police.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killers used a quick-acting muscle relaxant to help make the death seem "natural", a senior Dubai police officer said.
Israel's secret service has been widely blamed for the killing.
However Israel has said there is no evidence it was behind the death on 20 January.
It has accused Mabhouh of smuggling arms into Gaza and killing two Israeli soldiers.
'Rapid onset'
"The killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate Mabhouh before they suffocated him," Maj Gen Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai's police, said.
"The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
The agency said succinylcholine is favoured by anaesthetists and emergency doctors because of its rapid onset.
Some previous reports on Mabhouh's death have suggested he was electrocuted and suffocated.
Passport row
Dubai has identified 26 suspects in the murder and said they used British, Irish, French and Australian passports.
The use of the European and Australian passports in the assassination has sparked a diplomatic row between those countries and Israel.
The countries say the passports used by the murder suspects were forged.
British police officers are in Israel to investigate the use of fake British passports by some of the suspects.
Israeli officials have refused to either confirm or deny their country's involvement in the killing but have hailed it.
Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Sunday he did not know who had carried it out, but it showed Hamas that "none of their people are untouchable".
Pictures of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a former Hamas commander, are seen in front of al-Wasim mosque at al-Yarmouk camp, near Damascus
0 comments:
Post a Comment