Ma'an writes:
Palestinian security officials said that target in what has been alleged to be an Israeli strike on Sudan was the successor to assassinated Hamas official Mahmoud Mabhouh.
Abdul-Latif Ashkar, one of two men killed in a strike on a car in Sudan, is said to have taken over the role of weapons gathering formerly carried out by Mabhouh, who was assassinated by Israeli intelligence officials in a Dubai hotel room last year.
Hamas Deputy Politburo Chief Moussa Abu Marzouq, however, told the Jerusalem daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that the two "were not Palestinian and had no connection to Hamas."
While Sudanese media said both victims were nationals of the country, daily London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Arabiya said one of the victims was a national of an Arab country, and said the man was involved in arms smuggling for Hamas.
YNet says that Hamas relatives are denying that Ashkar was killed:
Member of the Palestinian legislative council from Hamas Ismail Ashkar announced Thursday that his nephew Abdul Latif Ashkar survived the Port Sudan strike on Tuesday. Al-Arabiya reported earlier that Abdul Latif, who is considered Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's heir, was one of the victims.
The legislator stressed that his nephew is doing well. "God saved him," he said. Ashkar described Abdul Latif as a prominent leader in Hamas's military wing who had escaped several attempts on his life.
Either way, this means that Hamas is pretty much admitting that it is smuggling arms in from Sudan. Why else would Ashkar be there to begin with?
