Dubai's police chief says the photos show 11 suspects wanted in the killing of a Hamas commander in January. (Dubai Ruler's Media Office/Associated Press)

Interpol has put 11 people suspected in the slaying of a Hamas militant leader in Dubai on its most-wanted list.

The international police agency has issued red notices, its highest-level alert, to its member countries worldwide for "11 internationally wanted individuals who have been charged by UAE-Dubai authorities with coordinating and committing the murder."

Interpol says it was acting on the request of Dubai authorities, who on Thursday told local media the investigation into the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh points almost certainly to Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Interpol, which believes the suspects used fake passports, issued the notices — which include photographs — "to limit the ability of accused murderers from travelling freely using the same false passports."

Fallout intensifies

Dubai police Chief Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim was quoted on the website of United Arab Emirates daily The National as saying it "is 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder."

Tamim said on Monday that an 11-member hit squad carrying European passports and disguised in wigs, fake beards and tennis clothes was behind the mysterious killing of al-Mabhouh, whose body was found in a luxury hotel room in the Persian Gulf city on Jan. 20.

The fallout from the killing continued on Thursday with both Britain and Ireland summoning Israeli ambassadors to discuss the case after allegations surfaced the suspects used fake passports from the two countries.

Six of the suspects used British passports, with some of the names and passport numbers corresponding to British Israelis living in Israel. The owners of the passports did not match the photos of the suspects Dubai authorities released, however.

Israel deflects questions about case

Three suspects also used Irish passports, but Ireland said Wednesday the passports were fake and the citizens named did not exist. The remaining two passports were from Germany and France.

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday deflected charges that his country was involved.

"Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in Israel's first official comment on the affair, then added: "I don't know why we are assuming that Israel, or the Mossad, used those passports."

Israel's spy agency has been in trouble before for using foreign passports to disguise its agents, most notably during a botched assassination attempt on Khalid Meshal, a Hamas official and now the group's leader.

In that incident, two agents were caught carrying fake Canadian passports in 1997. Canada filed a formal protest and received assurances from Israel that its agents would never again use Canadian passports.

Number of suspects rises to 18

The allegations that the suspected assassins stole the identities of Israeli citizens has added a new wrinkle to the case and divided Israeli security experts over Mossad's involvement.

Some have suggested the use of fraudulent passports and the target in the case — al-Mabhouh has been accused of supplying Gaza's Hamas rulers with their most dangerous weapons — make Mossad the likely force behind the attack.

Others say the spy agency would not endanger its own citizens and suggested Israel was being framed for the crime.

Hamas has already blamed Israel for carrying out the attack on al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, and vowed revenge.

One official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that seven other suspects have been linked to the case, including two Palestinians in custody and one woman at large who was caught on video surveillance at the hotel.

Some suspects also reportedly used their passports to open credit card accounts with U.S. banks, the official said.

With files from The Associated Press