Assassinated: Mahmoud al-MabhouhIN MOSSAD ASSASSINATION OF
HAMAS COMMANDER IN DUBAI
Six more British passports were used in the assassination of a Hamas commander in a Dubai hotel last month, police have claimed. Police named six new Britons whose identities were used in the hit as Philip Carr, Gabriella Barney, Stephen Drake, Mark Sklur, Daniel Schnur and Roy Cannon.
The revelation from Dubai today means that up to 12 British identities are believed to have been stolen or forged to carry out the hit, allegedly by Israel's feared secret service, Mossad.
The claim came as Dubai identified 15 new suspects in the killing today. The 15 new named suspects bring the total hit squad up to 26. Up to six women are now believed to have been part of the hit squad.
Of the 15 new suspects, 11 are believed to have been part of the execution squad sent to Dubai. With the 11 suspects previously identified by police, that brings the total hit squad in Dubai up to 22.
One of the six new British passports is in the name of a dark-haired woman calling herself Gabriella Barney. She appears to have been posing as the daughter of Michael Barney, named as one of the original 11 suspects.
At least 14 of the suspects are also believed to have used credit cards issued by the same bank, Al Arabiya television said today. MetaBank, an Iowa, U.S.-based savings bank, has not yet commented on the allegations.
Wanted: One of the 15 new suspects in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was traveling on this British passport under the name Gabriella VarneyThe revelation is set to increase tensions between Israel and the UK after Foreign Secretary David Miliband labeled the theft an 'outrage' and Gordon Brown ordered the Serious Organized Crime Agency to investigate.
Israeli authorities were accused today of treating the Government with 'disdain' over the hit.
SDLP MP Mark Durkan claimed the Israeli government had shown 'utter contempt' for the standards of international relations by refusing to help the British investigation.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said questions had to be answered about the misuse of British passports, but refused to draw 'immediate conclusions' about what happened without seeing the evidence.
Top to bottom: Stephen Drake and Roy Cannon, both also named as suspects today. Bottom, the man posing as Michael Barney who was named as one of the original suspects by Dubai last week. The alleged British woman named today, Gabriella Barney, appears to have been posing as his daughterThis week Mr Miliband sought answers in a 45-minute private meeting with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman. Remember this?
"I think Britain recognizes that Israel
is a responsible country
and that our security activity
is conducted according to very clear,
cautious and responsible rules of the game.
Therefore, we have no cause for concern."
But he told the Foreign Secretary he had 'no information to give' at this stage.
At Prime Minister's Questions Mr Durkan (Foyle) asked Mr Brown: 'Can you confirm that you condemn not only the use of false UK passports in a criminal operation but any act of state-sponsored assassination anywhere?'
Mr Brown told him: 'I can assure you that where there are questions about the misuse of British passports they have to be answered.
The female assassins: The other woman named and wanted by Dubai police include, top, a red-head travelling as an Irish citizen named Anna Shauna Clasby, and below, a brunette travelling on an Australian passport as Nicole Sandra McCabe
Top, a woman posing as French citizen Melanie Heard; and bottom, another woman posing as an Irish citizen named Ivy Brinton. The above four, along with Gabriella Barney, were all named as suspects by Dubai police today. A woman posing as Irish citizen Gail Folliard was the first woman to be named as a suspect'We have set up and there is an investigation ongoing into the very incidents you have raised.
'I would not draw immediate conclusions without seeing the evidence and I think it is important to see the evidence on this before any further conclusions are made.
'But I do agree with you we do not support state-sponsored terrorism in any country.'
The laws on universal jurisdiction apply to all nations 'and not just one country,' Mr Brown added.
A Soca spokesman said: 'At the moment there are six additional passports that the Emirates authorities have informed us of.
'We believe them to be British and that is being confirmed.'
Britain, Ireland and Germany have called Israeli ambassadors in for explanations about the forged passports, but Israel has not accepted responsibility.
Israel has come under withering criticism from some quarters in Europe and elsewhere in the wake of the killing of al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in his Dubai hotel room on January 20.
Dubai security cameras picked up 18 members of what the country's police commander said was a hit team, adding that he was virtually certain Mossad was to blame.
The suspects were seen on CCTV disguised as tourists, following al-Mabhouh to his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.
An assassination team was then seen going to his room while a surveillance team, including a blonde woman posing as an Irish citizen named Gail Folliard, kept lookout.
After just ten minutes, the team were seen walking out of the hotel. They fled the country within two hours, having spent less than 19 hours in Dubai overall.
Al-Mabhouh was believed to have been suffocated.
Some reports have claimed that a Hamas insider was part of the hit.
Israel has not confirmed or denied that Mossad was behind the hit, hiding behind a 'policy of ambiguity'.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was grilled about Israel's alleged role in the killing when he met European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that as long as there is no evidence beyond media reports linking Israel to the killing, the minister felt 'there is no need to relate to the matter.'
In the only Israeli government comment to date, Lieberman said last week, 'Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies.'
He added, 'I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports.'
Yesterday Israel's parliamentary opposition leader praised the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in the first such comment from a top official.Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima Party said the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was good, but she did not indicate who was behind the killing.
'The fact that a terrorist was killed, and it doesn't matter if it was in Dubai or Gaza, is good news to those fighting terrorism,' she said at a conference of the Jewish Agency board of governors in Jerusalem.
A Dubai police handout shows all 26 of the alleged hit squad, with the names and nationalities they were traveling under
A 'family tree' from the Dubai police helps chart the role each suspect played in the assassination
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