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Autopsy conducted on Palestinian gunned down in 'Mossad' hit

April 22, 2018
Malaysian forensic police collect evidence in the area where a Palestinian scientist was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. — AFP
Malaysian forensic police collect evidence in the area where a Palestinian scientist was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. — AFP

Gombak, Malaysia — An autopsy was being carried out Sunday 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 Sunday.

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."

The Islamist Palestinian movement said Batsh, a research scientist specializing 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) think he is dangerous."

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

Ahmad Abu Bakar, 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".

In occupied Jerusalem, Israel's defense minister said on Sunday the Palestinian scientist was a rocket expert and "no saint", but dismissed suggestions by Hamas that Israel's Mossad spy agency assassinated him.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was likely that Batsh was killed as part of an internal Palestinian dispute.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects in the killing, who fled the scene, were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.

He added that Batsh was active in pro-Palestinian non-governmental organizations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.

He could have been seen as "a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine," Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Batsh was a lecturer at University Kuala Lumpur, specializing in power engineering, according to the university.

Batsh's uncle Jamal al-Batsh, speaking to Reuters in the Gaza Strip, said he believed Mossad was behind the killing because "Israel knows Palestine will be liberated by scientists". — Agencies


April 22, 2018
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