Israel dismisses claims Mossad behind Malaysia hit
ISRAEL’S defence minister on Sunday dismissed claims the country’s spy agency was behind the assassination of a Palestinian scientist in Malaysia, suggesting instead that his killing was a “settling of accounts”.
Speaking to Israeli radio, Avigdor Lieberman described the dead Palestinian, a member of Islamist militant group Hamas, as “no saint” and said that he had been involved in rocket production.
Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, 35, was killed in a Kuala Lumpur drive-by shooting on Saturday, according to Malaysian authorities, with his family accusing Israel’s Mossad spy agency of the assassination.
Hamas said Batsh, a research scientist specialising in energy issues, was one of its members.
“There’s a tradition among terror organisations of blaming Israel for every instance of settling of accounts,” Lieberman told public radio, noting the reports that Batsh’s work involved improving the range and accuracy of rockets. “The man was no saint and settling accounts among terror groups and different factions is something we see all the time. I assume this was the case here too.”
An autopsy was being carried out Sunday on the body of Batsh, who was walking to dawn prayers at a local mosque in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Gombak when he was shot by two gunmen riding a motorcycle, Malaysian officials said.
At the crime scene, police markers indicated 14 bullets had been sprayed at the victim, some of them hitting a wall.
Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted by the state-run Bernama news agency as saying Batsh was “an electrical engineer and an expert at making rockets”.
Militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza fire rockets at southern Israel, but usually without casualties.
Malaysia’s police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said a task force has been formed to inves- tigate the killing but would not speculate on the motive or whether foreign assassins were involved. Photos of the two suspects provided by witnesses showed they looked like Europeans, he told a news conference on Sunday afternoon.
When asked if there was evidence of foreign involvement in the killing, he said: “We want to ensure a complete probe.We are still investigating the motive. I urge people not to make any conclusion.”
No arrests have been made and the murder weapon has not been recovered, he said.
Palestinian representative to Malaysia Anwar al-Agha said Fadi’s body would be taken back to the Palestinian territories for burial.
Mohammad Shedad, 17, a relative of the victim, also blamed Mossad for the killing.
“It is definitely the work of Mossad. Fadi is a very clever person, anyone who is clever is a threat to Israel,” he said outside the victim’s apartment. “Fadi is a Hamas member and knows how to make rockets. So [Israel] think he is dangerous.”
Batsh was married with three young children and had lived in Malaysia for 10 years.
The Mossad is believed to have assassinated Palestinian militants and scientists in the past, but rarely confirms such operations.