The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Israel on Friday of assassinating one of its top military commanders in a Dubai hotel, and the Dubai police chief said he could not rule out the involvement of Mossad.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, an Israeli target since masterminding the capture of Israeli soldiers in the 1980s during a Palestinian uprising, was killed on Jan. 20, a Hamas official said in the Syrian capital Damascus.
“I cannot rule out the possibility of Mossad involvement in the assassination of Mabhouh,” Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim told al Jazeera television, referring to the Israeli intelligence agency.
He said he could not announce the nationalities of those involved.
Dubai police had earlier said that a “criminal gang” had been following the victim’s movements before his arrival in the United Arab Emirates.
An official statement said most of the suspects had European passports and left the country after the killing.
The United Arab Emirates does not have a peace treaty with Israel but has hosted Israeli officials and does business with Israeli companies.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal made an impassioned speech to thousands of mourners at Mabhouh’s funeral on Friday at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk outside Damascus. A green Hamas flag covered the body as it was lowered into the grave.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
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