Ireland, Britain check if more passports used

The Dubai authorities initially said three members of the suspected hit squad which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh last month were carrying Irish passports, then another two were revealed to have been used.

Britain said Monday it was investigating reports that another two British passports were used in addition to the six already known about.

The reports of more suspected fake documentation came as the Irish Times reported that a vacant property in an area of Dublin populated by embassies was given as a home address by one of the suspected hit squad.

The property is owned by a brother of former Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds, the report said.

The newspaper said a man travelling under the name of Kevin Daveron gave the property in Elgin Road as his address to a Dubai hotel he stayed in.

The house is close to several diplomatic missions including those of the United States, Ukraine and Israel.

Mabhuh, a founder of the armed wing of the radical Palestinian movement opposed to Israel, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.

British junior foreign minister Chris Bryant on Monday angrily denied press reports that British authorities had been forewarned of the attack.

Bryant told lawmakers “new facts continue to emerge” about the killing.

Dubai police say the hit-men who killed Mabhuh held British, Irish, French and German passports between them.

Investigators in the Emirate are convinced the Israeli secret service Mossad was behind the attack.

But Israel has refused to admit or deny it carried out the attack. On Monday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told journalists in Brussels who alleged that Mossad was involved that they watch “too many James Bond movies”.