Two Polish men detained for Hitler b’day concert

Jerusalem, April 22: 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 alBatsh, 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,”

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

he said. “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.