Malaysia asks public for help in probe into Hamas engineer's death
In press conference, Malaysia national police chief says investigation still underway to determine motive for killing of Palestinian electrical engineer Fadi Albatsh, vows to 'do our best to improve the level of security, especially in Kuala Lumpur.'
Malaysian police asked the public for help on Sunday in its investigation into the gunning down of a Palestinian man a day earlier, while beefing up security in the country following recent high-profile assassinations.
Gaza's ruling Hamas terror group said Fadi Albatsh was an important member of the group and accused Israel of being behind his killing early Saturday in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia's national police chief, Mohamad Fuzi Harun, said Sunday that security has been beefed up and an investigation is underway to determine the motive behind Albatsh's killing.
"No arrests have been made and the murder weapon has not been recovered," Fuzi said at a news conference. "We need some help from the public actually. Anyone with information, please come forward."
"This is an unfortunate incident that we would like to have avoided, but it has happened," he added. "I give an assurance that we will do our best to improve the level of security, especially in Kuala Lumpur."
Malaysian police say the 35-year-old Albatsh was gunned down by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lumpur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins, who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.
Fuzi dismissed claims police took almost an hour to response to the shooting after a video went viral on YouTube of a man who said he witness the shooting and tried to call the police 3-4 times, but received no answer.
“The video, which was in Arabic, was later translated and posted on Facebook by another person. He made an error in the translation saying that the man had tried to call the police 43 times,” the police chief said.
"The video is full of lies as we received the first call at 6:41am and dispatched a patrol car to the scene at 6:44am, and the car arrived at the scene at 6:49am,” he said.
Hamas initially stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been "assassinated by the hand of treachery." But later its top leader accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of killing him and threatened retaliation.
The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian terrorists in daring overseas operations around the globe and has been linked to other assassinations as well, though it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.
Fuzi said Albatsh had lived in Malaysia for more than seven years and was a permanent resident of the country.
He had a degree in electrical engineering and lectured at a local university, according to Fuzi, who said he could not confirm reports that Albatsh was an expert in rocket making.
He said Albatsh, who traveled locally and abroad to speak on Palestinian issues, was due to fly to Turkey for a conference when he was killed.
Fuzi said witness accounts showed that the assailants had European features, but that it was premature to confirm whether foreign agents were involved in the killing.
The nongovernmental group Humanitarian Care Malaysia said it had engaged Albatsh as an imam for the past few years to raise awareness on Palestinian issues in Malaysia.
