Ireland Says the Irish Citizens Involved in Dubai Hamas Assassination...Do Not Exist

Now if I haven't got your attention with that headline, you must be unconscious or captivated by Olympic curling/mini-zamboni-ing.

How come I haven't heard about this story on a smart military blog? A covert team of ten men and a woman assassinated a senior Hamas terrorist in a Dubai hotel room last month. Attempts to figure out who the assassins were or even who they worked for are coming up bupkus (do you see what I did there, just sayin'):

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior figure in the military wing of Hamas, was found dead in a hotel room on Jan 20. According to one report he was killed by a female assassin who entered his room by posing as a member of hotel staff, injected him with a drug that induced a heart attack and hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.

But other officers said he was strangled, probably after receiving an electric shock.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, blamed Israel’s Mossad intelligence service for the killing.

But video footage and a series of passport photographs released by the Dubai police suggested a much more convoluted and bizarre operation than is normally associated with Mossad, which has a reputation for ruthless professionalism.

Ireland says the names, photos, and passport numbers do not match anything they've got. The passports were counterfeit. Israel is keeping quiet, not denying, but not confirming anything. The UK has also refused comment.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:48 PM

| Access Comments