Dubai police: Hamas chief was suffocated

Dubai Police have said that forensic tests prove murdered Hamas chief Mahmoud al Mabhouh was suffocated.

According to the post mortem examination, “substantial” quantities of the drug succinylcholine were found in his body.

The police said the drug is used to induce anaesthesia. It is also a muscle relaxant that could "cause immediate and temporary paralysis", a police spokesman said. Police added that while the drug was usually difficult to trace, in this instance it had been administered in quantities which made it easy to detect.

Al Mabhouh was found dead on January 20 in his hotel room in Dubai. Dubai authorities have so far identified at least 27 people suspected of involvement in the killing, saying many of them used fraudulent European and Australian passports.