Fifteen new suspects — including six more 'Britons' — have been identified as suspects in the assassination of a top Hamas commander in Dubai, police say.
A total of 26 people have now been linked to the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his luxury hotel room in January.
Dubai Police said that of the 15 new suspects, six had British identities, three Irish, two French and three Australian.
They had traveled to Dubai from six different European cities and Hong Kong, the statement said.
The group includes five women — one who used a British passport, three traveling on Irish passports and one with an Australian passport.
The announcement takes the number of suspects who used British passports to 12 from six, and those who used Irish passports to six, up from three.
The police force said in a statement: "The new list of suspects includes people who offered prior logistical support and preparations to facilitate the crime and others who played a central role.
"Dubai Police investigators are not ruling out the possibility of involvement of other people in the murder."
Mossad, Israel's secret service, has been widely blamed for the killing, with Dubai's chief of police among those pointing the finger.
In an indication that Mossad is still being blamed for the attack, the force said today: "The UAE (United Arab Emirates) will never tolerate the violation of its sovereignty or allow external forces to settle scores on its territory no matter what their ideology is."
In the days after the killing, Israel initially did not confirm or deny Mossad's involvement, but deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon has since insisted that Israel had "nothing to do with what happened".
Six more British passports were used in the assassination of a Hamas commander in a Dubai hotel last month, police have claimed.
The revelation from Dubai today means that up to 12 British identities are believed to have been stolen or forged to carry out the hit, allegedly by Israel's feared secret service, Mossad.
One of the six new British passports is in the name of a dark-haired woman calling herself Gabriella Barney. Up to six women are now believed to have been part of the hit squad.
Police named the six new Britons whose identities were used in the hit as Philip Carr, Gabriella Barney, Stephen Drake, Mark Sklur, Daniel Schnur and Roy Cannon.
It is set to increase tensions between Israel and the UK after Foreign Secretary David Miliband labelled the theft an 'outrage' and Gordon Brown ordered the Serious Organised Crime Agency to investigate.
The Israeli authorities were accused today of treating the Government with 'disdain' over the hit.
SDLP MP Mark Durkan claimed the Israeli government had shown 'utter contempt' for the standards of international relations by refusing to help the British investigation.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said questions had to be answered about the misuse of British passports, but refused to draw 'immediate conclusions' about what happened without seeing the evidence.
This week Mr Miliband sought answers in a 45-minute private meeting with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman.
But he told the Foreign Secretary he had 'no information to give' at this stage.
At Prime Minister's Questions Mr Durkan (Foyle) asked Mr Brown: 'Can you confirm that you condemn not only the use of false UK passports in a criminal operation but any act of state-sponsored assassination anywhere?'
Mr Brown told him: 'I can assure you that where there are questions about the misuse of British passports they have to be answered.
'We have set up and there is an investigation ongoing into the very incidents you have raised.
'I would not draw immediate conclusions without seeing the evidence and I think it is important to see the evidence on this before any further conclusions are made.
'But I do agree with you we do not support state-sponsored terrorism in any country.'
The laws on universal jurisdiction apply to all nations 'and not just one country,' Mr Brown added.
A Soca spokesman said: 'At the moment there are six additional passports that the Emirates authorities have informed us of.
'We believe them to be British and that is being confirmed.'
The claim came as Dubai identified 15 new suspects in the killing today.
Three of the other new suspects used Irish identities, three used French identities, and three used Australian identities.
The 15 new named suspects bring the total hit squad up to 26.
At least 14 of the suspects are also believed to have used credit cards issued by the same bank, Al Arabiya television said today.
MetaBank, an Iowa, U.S.-based savings bank, has not yet commented on the allegations.
Britain, Ireland and Germany have called Israeli ambassadors in for explanations about the forged passports, but Israel has not accepted responsibility.
Israel has come under withering criticism from some quarters in Europe and elsewhere in the wake of the killing of al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20.
Dubai security cameras picked up 18 members of what the country's police commander said was a hit team, adding that he was virtually certain Mossad was to blame.
The suspects were seen on CCTV disguised as tourists, following al-Mabhouh to his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.
An assassination team was then seen going to his room while a surveillance team, including a blonde woman posing as an Irish citizen named Gail Folliard, kept lookout.
After just ten minutes, the team were seen walking out of the hotel. They fled the country within two hours, having spent less than 19 hours in Dubai overall.
Al-Mabhouh was believed to have been suffocated.
Some reports have claimed that a Hamas insider was part of the hit.
Israel has not confirmed or denied that Mossad was behind the hit, hiding behind a 'policy of ambiguity'.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was grilled about Israel's alleged role in the killing when he met European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that as long as there is no evidence beyond media reports linking Israel to the killing, the minister felt 'there is no need to relate to the matter.'
In the only Israeli government comment to date, Lieberman said last week, 'Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies.'
He added, 'I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports.'
Yesterday Israel's parliamentary opposition leader praised the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in the first such comment from a top official.
Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima Party said the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was good, but she did not indicate who was behind the killing.
'The fact that a terrorist was killed, and it doesn't matter if it was in Dubai or Gaza, is good news to those fighting terrorism,' she said at a conference of the Jewish Agency board of governors in Jerusalem.
The female assassins: The other woman named and wanted by Dubai police include, left, a red-head travelling as an Irish citizen named Anna Shauna Clasby, and right, a brunette travelling on an Australian passport as Nicole Sandra McCabe
Wanted: One of the 15 new suspects in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was travelling on this British passport under the name Gabriella Varney
Left, a woman posing as French citizen Melanie Heard; and right, another woman posing as an Irish citizen named Ivy Brinton
Assassinated: Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
The Green Prince: Son of Hamas founder 'was top Israeli agent'
The son of one of Hamas' founders served as a top informant for Israel for more than a decade, a newspaper has claimed.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, dubbed 'the Green Prince' by his handlers, allegedly provided top-secret intelligence that helped prevent dozens of suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis, Haaretz claimed.
He was one of the Shin Bet security service's most valuable sources. His reports led to the arrests of several high-ranking Palestinian figures during the violent Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, according to the newspaper.
Yousef's father - Sheik Hassan Yousef - was a founding member of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the 1980s. He is currently serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison for his political activities.
The younger Yousef converted to Christianity and moved to California in 2007.
If the Haaretz report is true, the revelation would deal another setback to Hamas, which is reeling from the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month.
Hamas accused Haaretz of 'fabrications and lies'.
Yousef's memoir, 'Son of Hamas', is being published next week in the United States by Tyndale House Publishers.
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