Interpol seeks arrests for Hamas chief's killing

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Dubai urges Interpol to issue red notice against Mossad chief
Interpol seeks arrests for Hamas chief's killing

 
The Interpol issued arrest notices for 11 suspects in the killing of Hamas leader

 
 

DUBAI/PARIS (Al Arabiya, Agencies)

Interpol should issue a warrant to help locate and arrest the head of Israel's spy agency Mossad if the organization was responsible for the killing of a Hamas chief in Dubai, the emirate's police chief said on Thursday, as the Interpol issued arrest notices for 11 suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing.

In comments to be aired later on Dubai TV, police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim called for Interpol to issue "a red notice against the head of Mossad ... as a killer in case Mossad if proved to be behind the crime, which is likely now".

The Interpol meanwhile issued arrest notices for 11 suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing of Hamas leader Mahmud al-Mabhuh there.

 
  Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of Mabhouh. It is 99 percent, if not 100 percent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder
 

 

Dubai Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim

Fake passports

The 11 have been charged by authorities in the United Arab Emirates with coordinating and committing the murder of Mabhouh, it said in a statement.

Mabhouh, a commander of the Palestinian armed group Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, was killed in a hotel room in Dubai on Jan. 19.

Officials have said suspects in the killing used fake passports from Britain, France and Ireland.

Announcing the issue of the so-called Red Notices Interpol said it "has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people."

Red Notices are "to seek the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition," according to the Interpol website.

Tamim said he was 99 percent sure the Israeli spy agency Mossad was behind the murder, Emirati newspaper The National reported earlier.

"Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of Mabhouh. It is 99 percent, if not 100 percent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder,"Tamim told The National newspaper.

Britain, France and Ireland summoned Israeli ambassadors on Thursday over the question of fake passports.

European reaction

Britain summoned Israeli ambassador to London Ron Prosor for a meeting with Peter Ricketts, who heads its diplomatic service, to explain how several UK citizens living in Israel found their passport details had been used by the alleged killers.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Ricketts had made clear "how seriously we take any suggestion of fraudulent use of British passports" and sought Israeli assistance.

Paris also demanded that Israel explain how an apparently forged French passport had been used by the suspected assassins.

"We are asking for explanations from Israel's embassy in France over the circumstances of the use of a fake French passport in the assassination of a Hamas member in Dubai," the Foreign Ministry said.

Dublin followed suit, calling in the Israeli ambassador to tell it how the suspects had used passport details of three Irish citizens, one of whom has never visited Israel.

"We are taking this very, very seriously," Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told national broadcaster RTE.

Germany too demanded an explanation from Israel over the killing in Dubai in talks between a top foreign ministry diplomat and the Israeli charge d'affaires.

"In view of the information revealed so far I believe it is imperative to clear up thoroughly the circumstances surrounding Mabhouh's death," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.

Hamas vows revenge

Meanwhile, Hamas vowed at a Gaza rally staged late on Wednesday to avenge the assassination of Mabhouh.

"The decision to avenge the martyr Mabhouh has been taken, and it will be equal to the crime," Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’ Ezzul Din al-Qassam Brigades, told thousands of people gathered in Sheikh Zayed City in the northern Gaza Strip.

"All you killers can do now is wait…We are the ones who will decide the tools suitable to carry out our promise. We will not tell you how or where or when, but only to prepare to receive the hellfire of our anger."

Shortly after the speech exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal gave a televised address from Damascus in which he again blamed the killing on Israel's Mossad spy agency.

"The time for promises and talk of revenge is done. Now is the time for action," he said.

A masked marching band trampled a long Israeli flag before other fighters in military fatigues glided down on ziplines from the surrounding buildings.

"We do not cry tears, but bullets and bombs!" shouted the master of ceremonies from a lit-up stage with a flaming banner as a backdrop.

The killing of Mabhouh has widely been blamed on the Mossad, which has kept mum on the affair in line with tradition.

Mossad is widely believed to have stepped up covert missions against Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group as well as Iran's nuclear project. But Lieberman said on Wednesday the use of the identities of foreign-born Israelis by the suspects did not prove Mossad involvement.

 

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