Israel blamed for Hamas man’s death

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group said yesterday a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organisation, raising suspicions Israel was behind the killing.

Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-batsh was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars”. It said he had made “important contributions” and participated in international forums.

Hamas stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only he had been “assassinated by the hand of treachery”. But relatives of al-batsh said they believe Israel targeted him.

Malaysian police say 36-year-old al-batsh was gunned down yesterday by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque in Kuala Lampur. It said closed-circuit TV showed the assassins had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-batsh was a cousin of Khaled al-batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group, who accused the Israeli Mossad spy agency of the assassination, without providing evidence.

The Israeli government had no comment. Israel has a long history of targeting wanted Palestinian militants in daring overseas operations around the globe.

Al-batsh specialised in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.

His official biography said his research interests included power converters and renewable energy. However, Israeli media reported he was also involved in a Hamas drone development project. – Ap/african News Agency/ana