Dubai accuses British passport holders of killing Hamas chief

Adrian Blomfield, in Jerusalem and Andrew Hough Telegraph 02/15/2010 22:14

Suspects wanted in connection with the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, clockwise from top left : Michael Lawrence Barney, James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Paul John Keeley, Melvyn Adam Mildiner

Six British passport holders dressed in tennis clothes and wearing false beards and wigs were involved in the assassination of a senior Hamas commander in Dubai, police in the Gulf state have claimed.

Officers said the group, who may have used either stolen or forged documents, were allegedly part of an 11-man hit squad that murdered Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Mr Mabhouh, a senior figure in the military wing of Hamas, was found dead in a hotel room on Jan 20. According to one report he was killed by a female assassin who entered his room by posing as a member of hotel staff, injected him with a drug that induced a heart attack and hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.

But other officers said he was strangled, probably after receiving an electric shock.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligence service for the killing.

But video footage and a series of passport photographs released by the Dubai police last night suggested a much more convoluted and bizarre operation than is normally associated with Mossad, which has a reputation for ruthless professionalism.

Gen Dahi Tamim, Dubai’s police chief displayed a series of passport photographs showing 10 men and a woman at a press conference.

Most of the individuals appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, even though they carried passports with European-sounding names.

Six of the suspects carried British passports, three others had Irish passports, while the other two had French and German documents.