Hamas man 'drugged and smothered'

Dubai, 01 March-(ANA)-A Hamas commander who was killed in his Dubai hotel room was drugged and then suffocated, according to results of forensic tests released by police.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's killers used a quick-acting muscle relaxant to help make the death seem "natural", a senior Dubai police officer said.

Israel's secret service has been widely blamed for the killing.

However Israel has said there is no evidence it was behind the death on 20 January.

It has accused Mabhouh of smuggling arms into Gaza and killing two Israeli soldiers.

"The killers used the drug succinylcholine to sedate Mabhouh before they suffocated him," Maj Gen Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai's police, said.

"The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

The agency said succinylcholine is favoured by anaesthetists and emergency doctors because of its rapid onset.

Some previous reports on Mabhouh's death have suggested he was electrocuted and suffocated. (ANA)

FA/ANA/01 March 2010-----