Dubai police "99-per-cent" certain Mossad behind Hamas hit

Police in Dubai on Thursday said they were "99, if not 100-per-cent" sure that Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, was behind the murder of a leading Hamas militant in the city-state last month, DPA reported.

Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim told the daily The National that Interpol had issued international arrest warrants for 11 suspects in the January murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a luxury Dubai hotel.

"Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of al-Mabhouh. It is 99-per-cent, if not 100-per-cent that Mossad is standing behind the murder," Tamim told the daily in remarks quoted on the paper's website.

Israel's ambassadors in London and Dublin were called in by the British and Irish governments earlier on Thursday to explain the alleged use of faked passports in al-Mabhouh's murder.

In Britain, ambassador Ron Prosor was asked about his country's alleged involvement in the murder, in which the killers apparently used six British passports to enter the Gulf emirate.

Israeli Foreign Ministry sources on Thursday told a reporter for the Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper that the ambassadors would not take responsibility for the murder, and noted that their invitation, rather than summoning, created "a more pleasant atmosphere" for the meetings.

UAE police believe a team of 11 assassins using various European passports entered the emirate on January 20 to carry out the killing. Irish, German and French passports were also used.

Tamim, the Dubai police chief, had earlier threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Israel was found to have been involved.

"Netanyahu ... will be the first to be wanted for justice, as he would have been the one who signed the decision to kill al-Mabhouh in Dubai," Tamim reportedly said.