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Dubai has 15 new suspects in Hamas killing

This raises the number of suspects to 26 people, all Western passport holders, after Mabhouh was found dead on January 20 at a luxury Dubai hotel.

Police said in a statement that the 15 new suspects include three each from Ireland and Australia, and also include five women.

The new suspects had travelled to Dubai from six different European cities and Hong Kong, the statement said.

Police in Dubai earlier released the names and photos of 11 suspects in Mabhouh’s killing who had entered the UAE on European passports — six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.

The emirate’s police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan said last week that some of Mabhouh’s killers used diplomatic passports to enter the country.

Those passports appear to have been falsified or stolen, as they belonged to what appear to be ordinary citizens shocked to learn of their being linked to the case.

The use of European passports has sparked a diplomatic furore in which Israeli envoys in four countries have already been summoned for talks.

Khalfan has also said he is ‘99, if not 100 percent’ sure that Israeli spy agency Mossad was behind Mabhouh’s death, and added on Saturday that Dubai had evidence, including wiretaps, of the agency’s role.

Britain’s Sunday Times said the killing was carried out by Mossad with the green light and blessing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dubai Hamas killing and its aftermath

Dubai is seeking at least 26 people it suspects of involvement in the assassination of a Hamas official in a killing police say they are near certain was an Israeli hit.

Police said Hamas military commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh’s killers travelled to Dubai on fraudulent European passports.

Following is timeline of the killing and its aftermath:

JAN. 18, 2010 - Members of a suspected hit squad begin to arrive in Dubai and spread out to various hotels in the city.

JAN. 19, 2010

· Mabhouh arrives in Dubai from Damascus at 3:20 p.m, a stopover on a journey that was meant to take him to Sudan and China.

· Suspected members of the hit squad follow Mabhouh to a Dubai luxury hotel, where he checks in under an assumed name.

· Two suspects in tennis gear follow Mabhouh into the hotel lift to make note of his room number, after which another calls the hotel to book the room opposite.

· Mabhouh goes out to two of Dubai’s malls, has a meal and buys a pair of shoes.

· Suspected hit squad members enter Mabhouh’s room while he is out.

· Mabhouh returns to his hotel room at 8:25 p.m.

· Less than 10 minutes later, the suspects are seen leaving his room.

· Fewer than 10 minutes pass before some suspects leave the hotel for the airport, boarding flights to destinations including Germany, France and Hong Kong.

JAN. 20, 2010

· Mabhouh’s body is found by hotel staff.

· Hamas’s political leadership issues a statement saying Mabhouh died of a sudden illness, while its military wing says Mabhouh died of a sudden health setback ‘the causes of which we are investigating.’

JAN. 28, 2010 - Mabhouh’s body is returned to Damascus.

JAN. 29, 2010

· Mabhouh is buried at a Palestinian refugee camp outside Damascus. Thousands of mourners attend his funeral.

· A senior Hamas official says Israel killed Mabhouh in Dubai. Dubai police say they cannot rule out Mossad involvement and say most of the suspects had European passports.

· Mabhouh’s brother says he died of strangulation after receiving an electric shock.

JAN. 31, 2010

· Israeli security sources say Mabhouh played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Gaza but decline to comment on accusations Israel was behind his death.

· Hamas says Mabhouh was targeted by Israel for his role in smuggling ‘special weapons’ to the Gaza Strip.

FEB. 15, 2010 - Dubai police say they are seeking 11 suspects with European passports and publish closed-circuit video of the suspected killers. Two Palestinians are in custody, suspected of providing logistical support.

FEB. 16-FEB.17, 2010 - Seven foreign-born Israelis who shared names with suspected members of the hit squad deny involvement and say their identities have been stolen.

· Israel’s foreign minister says use of those identities by hit squad not a proof of Mossad’s involvement.

FEB. 18, 2010 - Britain, Ireland summon Israeli ambassadors over the use of fraudulent British and Irish passports. Britain urges Israel to cooperate fully with its investigation.

· Dubai’s police chief is quoted as saying he is near certain Israel was behind the killing.

FEB. 20, 2010 - A Hamas official tells a Jordanian newspaper that the movement has launched an investigation to try to discover ‘how the Mossad was able to carry out the operation’.

FEB. 22, 2010 - The European Union condemns the use of fraudulent EU passports. EU foreign ministers said the killing was ‘profoundly disturbing’ and that its citizens’ rights had been violated.

FEB. 23, 2010 - The UAE identifies four more suspects who carried fraudulent British and Irish passports, and says the cause of death was ruled as suffocation.

FEB. 24, 2010 - Dubai police identify 15 more suspects in the killing, bringing the total to 26, and say they believe still more people may have been involved.

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