Malaysia | Security beefed up after Palestinian gunned down

Relatives sit up a photo while masked militants from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Hamas, receive condolences at the house mourning of engineer Fadi al-Batsh

Malaysian police said yesterday that an investigation was underway into the gunning down of a Palestinian man a day earlier and gave assurances that security was being beefed up in the country following recent high-profile assassinations.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group said Fadi al-Batsh was an important member of the group and accused Israel of being behind his killing early Saturday in Kuala Lumpur.

His death comes just over a year after the brazen assassination of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport. Two Southeast Asian women have pleaded not guilty to killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing a nerve agent on his face in a plot that prosecutors say was masterminded by North Korean agents.

Malaysia’s national police chief, Mohamad Fuzi Harun, said yesterday that security has been beefed up and an investigation is underway to determine the motive behind al-Batsh’s killing.

“This is an unfortunate incident that we would like to have avoided, but it has happened,” Fuzi said at a news conference. “I give an assurance that we will do our best to improve the level of security, especially in Kuala Lumpur.”

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh 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.

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 intelligence of killing him and threatened retaliation.

The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian militants 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 al-Batsh 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 al-Batsh was an expert in rocket making.

He said al-Batsh, 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 al-Batsh as an imam for the past few years to raise awareness on Palestinian issues in Malaysia. Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AP