LONDON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Saturday denied it knew that an assassination of a leading figure in the Palestinian political organization Hamas was planned in the Gulf state of Dubai before the assassination took place.
Palestinian mourners attend the funeral of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders
of the Islamic movement's armed wing known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, in
Damascus, Syria, Jan. 29, 2010. Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination
of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed
Israel for his death. (Xinhua/Bassem Mohamad)
An FCO spokeswoman told Xinhua that "Any suggestion that we knew anything about the murder in Dubai before it happened, including about the misuse of British passports, is completely untrue."
"As we have said already, the Dubai authorities told us about the role of British passports on February 15, just hours before their press conference," she said. "We told them the following day that the passports used were fraudulent. The head of the Dubai police has also made clear that embassies were not contacted until shortly before the identity of the suspects was revealed."
