Autopsy on Palestinian killed in Malaysia

Family of Al Batsh accuse Israel’s Mossad of being behind the assassination

An autopsy was being carried out yesterday on the body of a Palestinian professor who was gunned down in what his family claim was an assassination by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Fadi Mohammad Al Batsh, 35, was killed in a drive-by shooting on Saturday, according to Malaysian authorities.

He was walking from his highrise apartment to dawn prayers at a local mosque in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Gombak when he was shot by two gunmen riding a motorcycle, officials added.

At the crime scene, police markers indicated 14 bullets had been sprayed at the victim, some of them hitting a wall.

An iron grill hit by a bullet was dented.

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”.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said the investigation was ongoing.

“We are investigating all angles. I have to investigate very carefully and deeply. This is an international issue,” Mazlan said yesterday.

He said the autopsy was being carried out at a hospital after which the body would be released to the family.

In a statement from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the victim’s family said: “We accuse the Mossad of being behind the assassination.”

Al Batsh was walking from his highrise apartment to dawn prayers at a local mosque in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Gombak when he was shot by two gunmen riding a motorcycle.

‘Expert on energy issues’

The Islamist Palestinian movement said Batsh, a research scientist specialising in energy issues, was one of its members.

Mohammad Shedad, 17, a student and 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 told AFP outside the victim’s Malaysian home.

“Fadi is a Hamas member and knows how to make rockets. So (Israel) thinks he is dangerous.”

Batsh leaves behind a wife and three young children. He had lived in Malaysia for the past 10 years.

Ahmad Abu Bakr, 33, a foreign student studying in Malaysia, said he had known the victim for two years.

“He is friendly and he preaches good things. He never preached any hatred. I am shocked by the killing,” he said.

Robert Anthony, 56, a security guard at a Chinese primary school near the scene, said he heard the shots ring out but assumed they were “firecrackers”.