Hamas leader assassinated in Dubai hotel

Mourners carry the coffin of Al Mabhouh [Getty images].

Mahmoud al Mabhouh was without his bodyguards when he was murdered in his Al Bustan Rotana hotel room, officials in Hamas’s Syrian headquarters revealed, according to a report in The National.

The officials confirmed that al Mabhouh, a leading member of Hamas’s military wing, was in the UAE on “a mission” when he was killed.

“He has five passports, one of them with his real name the other with different names, and this time he travelled under his actual identity,” said Talal Nasser, a senior spokesman for Hamas in Damascus.

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“He has travelled to Dubai many times before in this way without any problems.”

Al Mabhouh flew to Dubai on January 19 and was murdered in his hotel on January 20.

According to Hamas, citing information it said it received from Dubai authorities, he was electrocuted while walking in the hotel corridor, dragged into his room, and then strangled.

Dubai’s police chief, Lt Gen Dahu Khalfan Tamim, confirmed that al Mabhouh had entered the country on a passport bearing his real name, The National reported.

Lt Gen Tamim said his officers were “pursuing individual suspects, not an organisation”.

“We know everything about the suspects’ identity due to the strong evidence they left behind, and we will contact several countries which are connected to the suspects to provide us with all the necessary information,” he added.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Dubai authorities said the suspects were mostly European passport holders and members of an “experienced criminal gang” who had been monitoring al Mabhouh’s movements.

Hamas said it hoped to co-operate with the UAE security services in investigating the killing, however, Lt Gen Tamim explained that there would be no dealings with anyone aside from the “country’s official representatives in our country” in this case, the Palestinian Embassy.

Dr Khairi Aridi, the Palestinian ambassador to the UAE, said he had been contacted by national authorities regarding the case and would provide any assistance to the UAE if requested to do so.

Al Mabhouh’s remains were flown back to Syria on Thursday, and he was buried in a cemetery in Yarmouk Camp, a Palestinian area of Damascus, alongside other fallen militants on Friday.

According to reports, Hamas vowed to avenge the death, some members predicting retaliation within weeks.