Blame game
Police in Malaysia have released images of two men who shot and killed a Palestinian academic, a murder that has been blamed on Mossad.
MALAYSIA: Police in Malaysia have released images of two men who shot and killed a Palestinian academic, a murder that has been blamed on the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
The suspects, who wore black leather jackets, were described as well built, fair-skinned, bearded and of European or Middle Eastern appearance.
They escaped on high-powered motorcycles from a residential area in Kuala Lumpur after shooting Fadi al-batsh, 35, a Palestinian scientist who was said by Israel to have helped Islamist militant organisation Hamas to design rockets. He was hit 14 times.
The pair ambushed their victim on Saturday as he walked the 300m from his home to the local mosque, where he was to lead morning prayers. Witnesses were able to provide a description of the attackers to police.
Mossad has killed Palestinian activists and militants in the past. After Sunday’s killing, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, said the intelligence agency was ‘‘not [far] away from this disgraceful, terrible crime’’.
Mohamad Fuzi Harun, Malaysia’s inspector-general of police, denied allegations made in a video, posted in Arabic, that his officers were slow in getting to the scene, that 43 emergency calls went unanswered, and that Batsh’s life could have been saved with quicker intervention.
The claims aimed ‘‘to discredit my officers and to create disharmony in society, which we felt were insulting in nature’’, he told a press conference. ‘‘A police team was dispatched to the scene within three minutes after the first emergency call was received at 6.41am, and they arrived at the location at 6.49am.’’
Israel has not explicitly denied carrying out the attack. The Malaysian government has blamed it on ‘‘a foreign intelligence agency’’ and observed that Batsh was ‘‘a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine’’.
It is the second political killing in Malaysia in 14 months, after the death last year of Kim Jong-nam, the elder brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He was killed with VX nerve agent, rubbed on to his face by two women, who are now facing trial. They say they were tricked by North Korean agents.
Nur Jazlan Mohamed, the deputy home minister, urged Malaysians to remain calm before next month’s general election.
‘‘Locals do not have to worry, because it has nothing to do with them,’’ he said.
‘‘Even if the case involves foreign agents, it does not concern our people. So don’t worry.’’
– The Times