Security officials say they are sure of their own spy agency's role in the sensational hit
Security officials say they are sure of their own spy agency's role in the sensational hitIsraeli security officials said yesterday they were convinced the Mossad was behind the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai.
| Killing could've been from a thriller |
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It was something straight out of a James Bond film: A team of alleged killers in a swank Dubai hotel, some scoping out their target in an elevator while dressed in tennis clothes and carrying rackets and backpacks.
The suspects, seen on security tapes, fall short of the dashing assassins seen on film. They are ordinary, unremarkable. They do not stand out. But their mission, according to Dubai police, was a chilling one: the cold-blooded murder of a top Hamas official. And the mission was a success.
Authorities haven't said how al-Mabhouh died, but told his kin there were signs of electric shocks behind his ears, on his legs and genitals and over his heart. Blood on a pillow led police to believe he was suffocated. The killers left some of his medicine next to his bed in an effort to suggest his death wasn't suspicious.
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Some senior Israeli security officials said they were convinced it was a Mossad operation because of the motive -- the victim, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, supplied Gaza's Hamas rulers with their most dangerous weapons -- and the use of Israeli citizens' identities.
A vague comment from Israel's foreign minister only added to the spy novel-like mystery surrounding the slaying of al-Mabhouh, who was found dead on January 20 at a luxury hotel in Dubai. "Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in Israel's first official comment on the affair, then added, "I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports."
However, since the news of the assassination broke last month, Israel has unofficially made the story its own, with newspapers blaring congratulatory headlines. But now, with the release of the names of 11 suspects and surveillance videos, the trend is changing.
Criticism
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, characterised the operation as a significant Mossad bungle.
Some compared the case to another Mossad embarrassment -- the failed attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in 1997. Two Mossad agents were captured after injecting Mashaal with poison, and Israel was forced to send an antidote.
| Last night... |
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>> Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador for a meeting today to discuss the use of fake British passports by the alleged assassins. PM Gordon Brown promised a 'full investigation' into the matter.
>> Dubai was searching for
17 suspects, including a
second woman.
>> Hamas vowed revenge .
>> A key Hamas man was arrested on suspicion of helping the alleged Israeli hit squad. |
Critics slammed the Mossad, not for killing al-Mabhouh, but for doing it sloppily and for allegedly stealing identities of its own citizens to carry out the hit, endangering Israeli citizens in the process. The Mossad has been accused of identity theft before. New Zealand convicted two Israelis in 2005 for trying to fraudulently obtain New Zeala-nd passports. However, this would be the first time Mossad has been suspected of using the identities of its own citizens.
Set up?
But some experts said the Dubai evidence pointed to a setup to falsely blame Israel.
Hamas, for its part, said it had no doubt who was to blame. "The investigation proves what Hamas had said from the first -- Mossad is responsible for the assassination," said a Hamas legislator.
