Israel denies it sent Mossad to assassinate key rocket expert

Israel’s defence minister said on Sunday a Palestinian scientist shot dead in Malaysia was a rocket expert and “no saint,” but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel’s Mossad spy agency assassinated him.

Two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at Fadi al-Batsh, an engineering lecturer, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, killing him on the spot, the city’s police chief, Mazlan Lazim said.

Hamas, an Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, said one of its members had been assassinated in Malaysia. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Mossad had been behind past attempts to kill Palestinian scientists, and the attack on Batsh “follows this sequence.”

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Batsh was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute. “We heard about it in the news. The terrorist organizations blame every assassination on Israel – we’re used to that,” he told Israel Radio.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Saturday the suspects in the killing, who fled the scene, were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.

He added that Batsh was active in pro-Palestinian nongovernmental organizations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.

Malaysian police chief Mohamad Fuzi Bin Harun said on Sunday that no arrests had been made.