Faces of alleged hit squad appear on Interpol website in connection with killing of Hamas operative

Official "wanted" notices were released today for a suspected team of Israeli secret agents accused of participating in the assassination of a Palestinian militant.

The faces of an 11-strong alleged hit squad appeared on the Interpol website this morning, 48 hours after authorities in the United Arab Emirates issued arrest warrants for the killing last month of the Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Their offences are listed as "crimes against life and health". The group stands accused of entering the emirate state using forged or stolen European identities, murdering the militant in his hotel and then fleeing the country on 19 January.

The red wanted notices are not international arrest warrants, but allow details of fugitives to be released worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested and extradited.

The requests were lodged by the National Central Bureau in Abu Dhabi, Interpol said.

"Based on close co-operation among our member countries and on information provided by innocent citizens, it is becoming clear that those who carefully planned and carried out the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh most likely used forged or fake European passports of innocent citizens whose identities were stolen," said the organisation's secretary general, Ronald Noble.

"The decision by Dubai and Interpol to share all existing available information with the international law enforcement community can only help shed light on those who perpetrated and masterminded the attack. In the process it will also help to establish the innocence of the ordinary citizens and even of countries whose identities were stolen and fraudulently used."

An Interpol official said an initial listing on its website earlier today, which contained the names of alleged killers using German, French and Irish passports as if their details were genuine, was due to a "technical issue" and had been corrected.

All the faces of the suspects now appear on Interpol's website beside the name "unknown", with their alias identities included.

"The red notices were issued with the names and features based on evidence we provided to Interpol," Dubai's head of police told the Abu Dhabi-owned National newspaper. He confirmed for the first time that investigations indicated the involvement of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency.

"Our investigations reveal that Mossad is involved in the murder of Mabhouh. It is 99%, if not 100% that Mossad is standing behind the murder," said the head of police.

Mabhouh, 49, was a founder of Hamas's military wing.