DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — At least 15 more suspects carrying foreign passports were linked Wednesday to an elaborate hit-squad slaying of a Hamas commander that Dubai’s police chief claims likely was carried out by Israel’s Mossad secret service.
The latest accusations raised the size of the alleged assassination team to at least 26 and further expanded the investigation’s international web — now stretching from a bank in America’s heartland to European capitals and Australia.
The police statement left open the possibility the probe could widen and investigators were “not ruling out” more allegations.
Some of the new suspects — 10 men and five women traveling on British, French, Irish and Australian passports — allegedly were part of “logistical support” teams that staked out Dubai for months before the Jan. 19 slaying of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founder’s of Hamas’ military wing.
Although Dubai’s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has said he was nearly “100 percent” certain of Mossad’s role, the new details add at least one incongruous wrinkle.
Two of the suspects allegedly left Dubai on a ship bound for Iran — Israel’s archenemy — after an alleged reconnaissance trip in August.
The police statement comes less than two weeks after Dubai authorities identified 11 suspects accused of using fraudulent European passports during a 19-hour operation to tail and kill al-Mabhouh in his luxury hotel room near Dubai’s airport.
Dubai police say the suspects used credit cards from financial institutions in Germany, Britain and Iowa. They say the latest suspects traveled on a mix of passports that do not need prior visas for the United Arab Emirates or go through eye scans and other biometrics data required from many nations. They included six with British passports and three each from Ireland, France and Australia, police said.
It brings the total number of suspects using foreign passports to 12 British, six Irish, four French, three Australian and one German. Two Palestinians also have been detained in the case.
