Bike hit on Palestinian in Malaysia
Two unidentified men have shot dead a Palestinian man in Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister says the suspects are believed to be linked to a foreign intelligence service.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at the 35-year-old victim on Saturday, killing him on the spot.
“Preliminary investigations found four gunshot wounds on the victim’s body. Two bullet slugs were found at the scene of the incident.”
Mazlan declined to comment on reports that the victim was a member of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas or had been targeted by hitmen. “It’s too early to say. We are still investigating all aspects.”
The Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia, Anwar Al Agha, later ident- ified the victim as Palestinian Fadi alBatsh, an engineering lecturer, but declined to say if he was a member of Hamas. Witnesses at the scene had told him that the two suspects had “European features”, the ambassador said.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the suspects were believed to be Europeans with links to a foreign intelligence agency, state news agency Bernama reported.
He added that the victim had links with foreign intelligence and was active in pro-Palestinian nongovernmental organisations, describing him as an expert in electrical engineering and rocket-building.
The victim could have been seen as “a liability for a country that is an enemy of Palestine,” Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Hamas, which exercises de facto control over Gaza, said one of its members had been “assassinated” in Malaysia and it had sent a delegation to meet Malaysian officials to discuss the killing.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Israel’s Mossad intelligence service had been behind past attempts to assassinate Palestinian scientists, and that al-Batsh’s killing “follows this sequence.” Officials in Israel declined to comment.
Batsh was a lecturer at Universiti Kuala Lumpur, specialising in power engineering.
In recent weeks, tensions have been running high at the Gaza-Israel border amid Palestinian protests.