EU 'extremely concerned' over passport use in Hamas killing

(BRUSSELS) - EU foreign ministers voiced deep concern on Monday at the use of European passports in the killing of a Hamas commander in Dubai, with Israel's top envoy set to face tough questioning in Brussels.

"We are extremely concerned that European passports... can be used in a different manner for a different purpose," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with his EU counterparts.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was due to meet Moratinos and several fellow European foreign ministers later in the day, seeking to reassure them that the Jewish state had no connection with the use of British, Irish, French and German passports in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmud al-Mabhuh in January.

"We (the EU ministers) are going to discuss it and I hope we will issue a statement expressing our concern about this situation," said Moratinos ahead of the talks.

Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Saturday that he foresaw no crisis in Israel's relations with Europe over the use of foreign passports in the murder as it had nothing to do with it.

But Britain, Ireland, France and Germany have called in Israeli envoys for talks at their foreign ministries after passports from those countries were implicated in the killing.

Amid mounting diplomatic tension, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who was set to meet Lieberman, has urged the Israelis to cooperate "fully" in investigating the incident.

While Miliband did not speak to reporters as he arrived for the EU talks, his Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn said the culprits must be punished.

Such political assassinations "have no place in the 21st century," he added.

Al-Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas' armed wing, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on January 20.

Dubai police have released the names and photos of 11 suspects in Mabhuh's killing who entered the United Arab Emirates on European passports -- six from Britain, three from Ireland, one from Germany and one from France.

Those passports appear to have been falsified or stolen, as they belonged to what appear to be ordinary citizens shocked to learn of their being linked to the case.

While the EU foreign ministers were not talking about Mossad by name, it was clear that the spotlight was on Israel's secret service.

"I think it is very important now that we fully support the investigation ongoing in Dubai, said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

"Misuse of European passports is not to be tolerated." he added.

French European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche, who was not intending to meet Lieberman in Brussels, was very firm in his condemnation.

"What has happened is inadmissable," he said as he arrived for the EU talks.

Lieberman was to hold several bilateral meetings the sidelines of the EU ministerial meeting, with Moratinos, Miliband and EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton among others.

His trip was organised, according to EU sources, before the furore over the assassination.