January 25, 2002	Friday	Ziqa’ad 10, 1422

AL QUDS, Jan 24: Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon’s office declined to comment on Thursday on speculation that Israel was behind the assassination of a former Lebanese Christian militia intelligence chief.

Eli Hobeika and five of his Lebanese bodyguards were killed by a remote-controlled car bomb in Beirut Thursday morning.

“We do not react to the issue of Elie Hobeika,” said David Baker, a spokesman for Sharon.

Lebanese security officials speculated that the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency killed Hobeika, to prevent the former militia chief from revealing information that could incriminate Sharon in the 1982 massacre in Sabra and Shatila.

Hundreds of Palestinians were slaughtered in the Lebanese refugee camps by Christian militias who were the allies of Israel. Hobeika has been considered the prime responsible for the massacre.

Sharon insists he did not know about the militia’s intention to carry out the massacre, but an Israeli committee of inquiry found that, being Israel’s defence minister at the time, Sharon should have known and could have prevented it.—dpa