Dubai: Hamas man assassinated by 11 mercenaries
Ten men, one woman carrying various passports behind assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, local police say; 2 Palestinians detained in connection with killing. Assassins dressed up as tennis players, used advanced technology
Two Palestinians were detained in connection with al-Mabhouh killing, police officials added.
According to an al-Arabiya report, the two suspects were turned over to Dubai by Jordan. One of them was said to have met with the team's commander, a Frenchman known as "Peter," while the second suspect served as a security officer in the Palestinian Authority.
Do you recognize anyone? 11 suspects
The police said the assassins dressed up as tennis players while moving from one hotel to another and charged that the killers left medicine by al-Mabhouh's body in order to mislead investigators.
According to information released by police officials, team members carried the passports of various nationalities, including Irish, British, French, and German. The team included one female, carrying an Irish passport, police said.
The assassins were said to have ambushed al-Mabhouh in his hotel room after compromising the room's entry code and killed him in complete silence. Police also presented photographs of the suspected assassins.
Dubai's police chief said he could not rule out Mossad involvement in the assassination.
Police chief presents hotel footage
The police chief, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, said the mercenary team made use of "advanced technologies" during the operation, adding that al-Mabhouh was under surveillance from the moment he landed in Dubai on January 19th.
Dubai approaches Interpol
The Dubai police noted that one of the assassination's masterminds left the country before al-Mabhouh was killed. Police officials already approached Interpol and asked that the assassination suspects be handed over to Dubai.Al-Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20, but Hamas only reported that he was killed several days later. The Islamic movement charged that Israel was behind the killing the senior group member.
The 50-year-old al-Mabhouh left the Gaza Strip in 1989 as Israeli security officials were engaged in a manhunt for him over his role in the murder of two IDF soldiers..
