Israel’s Mossad blamed for killing Palestinian engineer in Malaysia
Al Batsh, who was shot dead, was an important member, Hamas says
Hamas said yesterday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organisation, raising suspicions that the Israeli regime was behind the brazen killing.
Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi Al Batsh was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars.” Hamas stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been “assassinated by the hand of treachery.” Al Batsh’s uncle Jamal Al Batsh said he believed the killing was the work of Israel’s Mossad espionage service.
Malaysian police say the 35-year-old Al Batsh was gunned down early yesterday by two assailants who shot 10 bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lumpur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.
Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government was looking into the possibility of the involvement of “foreign agents” in his killing. He told media that investigations showed the assailants were “white men” driving a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.
Mossad has a long history of assassinating Palestinian figures in operations around the globe and has been linked to other killings as well.
Al Batsh specialised in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.
Two unidentified men shot dead a Palestinian man in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Malaysian and Palestinian authorities reported, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister said the suspects were believed to be linked to a foreign intelligence service.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at the 35-year-old victim, killing him on the spot.
Palestine’s ambassador to Malaysia Anwar Al Agha later identified the victim as Palestinian Fadi Al Batsh, an engineering lecturer, but declined to say if he was a member of Hamas. However, Hamas said he was an important member of the organisation, raising suspicions that the Israeli regime was behind the brazen killing.
Four gunshot wounds
“Preliminary investigations found four gunshot wounds on the victim’s body. Two bullet slugs were found at the scene of the incident,” Mazlan said in a statement.
Hamas said Al Batsh was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars.”
Witnesses at the scene had told him that the two suspects had “European features”, the ambassador told Reuters. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.
He added the victim was active in pro-Palestinian nongovernmental organisations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.
The victim could have been seen as “a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine,” Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.
A Hamas statement said Batsh was “assassinated at treacherous hands [yesterday] ... as he walked for the dawn prayers.”
Al Batsh’s uncle Jamal Al Batsh, speaking to Reuters in the Jabalya town in northern Gaza Strip, said he believed the killing was the work of the Israeli regime’s Mossad espionage service. When asked who he blamed, he replied: “The Israeli Mossad.”