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The Dubai police named 15 new suspects on Wednesday--all Western passport holders--in the killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, bringing the total number of persons sought in the case to 26.
The new list includes a woman who used a British passport, a man and three women who travelled on Irish passports, two men with French passports, and a woman and two men with Australian passports, a statement released on Wednesday said.
Al Mabhouh was killed in a Dubai hotel room on January 19 following which the Dubai police had identified 11 suspects. The statement said countries assisting in the probe have indicated that the passports were issued in an illegal and fraudulent manner, and the pictures on the travel documents did not correspond to the original owners.
Investigators are not ruling out the possibility of involvement of other people in the murder and say they are still conducting a wide search and reviewing other links. The probe has led Dubai Police to identify the travel routes of the suspects and their destinations prior to and a0fter committing the crime. The police also released a document showing the travel routes of the suspects.
The document tracing their movement showed how the suspects gathered in Dubai and dispersed to various locations before paring up again in different teams and heading off to
other destinations. "The new list of suspects includes people who offered prior logistical support and preparations to facilitate the crime and others who played a central role," it said.
The investigation has also led to credit cards used by 14 of the suspects. The issuing bank -- META BANK -- was also identified in the US. The cards were used to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel.
The Dubai Police General Command stressed that all the suspects will be pursued to stand trial for this crime as the evidence shows their involvement in preparations, planning, logistics, surveillance, technical support and the actual killing of Al Mabhouh.
British passport holders have been named as Daniel Marc Schnur, Gabriella Barney, Roy Allan Cannon, Stephen Keith Drake, Mark Sklur and Philip Carr while Irish passports holders are Ivy Brinton, Anna Shuana Clasby and Chester Halvey.
French passport holders are David Bernard LaPierre, Melenie Heard and Eric Rassineux and Australians are Bruce Joshua Daniel, Nicole Sandra Mccabe and Adam Korman.
The Dubai Police said earlier this week that the 11-member hit squad which killed the senior Hamas leader here last month used diplomatic passports to execute the killing. It also said it has strong evidence to implicate Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in the assassination of Al Mabhouh.