The Hamas official who was murdered in Dubai last month had made phone calls with colleagues in Gaza before he took off from Syria, a Hamas official in Gaza said Saturday.

Since Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a top Islamic Hamas movement militant, was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on Jan. 19, speculations of a possible Israeli assassination were fueled nine days later when Dubai police announced al-Mabhouh was killed by an electric shock and strangling.

"Al-Mabhouh called brothers (colleagues) in Gaza before he left the Syrian capital and told them that, at a specific time, he would be in a specific hotel in Dubai," Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas legislator, said in Gaza.

Al-Bardaweel went on saying that al-Mabhouh booked his hotel room on-line.

"Phone and internet could have been tapped," al-Bardaweel said.

Al-Bardaweel's remarks provided information that could possibly tell how a secret fugitive could have been spotted.

Dubai police published images of 11 people holding British, German, Irish and French passports and said they were wanted for killing al-Mabhouh.

Al-Bardaweel said the 11 were agents for Israel's intelligence service, better known as Mossad.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2010)