The hit team which killed Mahmud Al Mabhuh last month was made up of six British passport holders, three with Irish passports, including the woman, and the holders of a German and a French passport, Dhafi Khalfan Tamim said.
“We have no doubts that it was 11 people holding these passports, and we regret that they used the travel documents of friendly countries,” he told a press conference. A government source said six other people, not yet identified, were also suspected of involvement.
A leading suspect, who carried a French passport, had left Dubai for Munich via Qatar after the killing, Tamim added.
While not ruling out “the involvement of (Israel’s spy agency) Mossad or other parties in the assassination,” Khalfan said the names on the passports had been passed on to Interpol to request arrest warrants.
Tamim said two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support in Mabhuh’s killing were being held by police. Al Arabiya television said the pair had been handed over by Jordan.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has accused Israel of killing Mabhuh, 50, who was found dead in his luxury hotel room in Dubai on January 20, and vowed revenge.
According to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, citing unidentified Middle East sources, Mabhuh on arrival in Dubai was followed by two men described by local police as “Europeans carrying European passports.” The hit squad injected Mabhuh with a drug that induced a heart attack, photographed all the documents in his briefcase, and left a “do not disturb” sign on the door, it said.
