Britain to expel top Israeli secret service agent

The Government is to expel a "senior Israeli diplomat" from the UK, escalating the row over the use of UK passports by an assassination squad in Dubai - and some reports say it will be Mossad's London representative who is shown the door.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband cancelled his appearance at a "housewarming" for the new Israeli embassy and gave a statement to Parliament today. He said: "Given that this was a very sophisticated operation, in which high-quality forgeries were made, the government judges it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service.

"We have concluded that there are compelling reasons to believe Israel was responsible for the misuse of the British passports."

According to unnamed sources who spoke to the Daily Telegraph, the diplomat to be expelled will be the London representative of Mossad, Israel's secret service, who it is thought may already have left the country.

Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor said: "The relationship between Israel and the UK is of mutual importance, hence we are disappointed by the... decision." However, an official told the BBC there would be no tit-for-tat expulsion by Israel. 

An investigation by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency has found that the passports were taken from Britons, all residents in Israel, as they waited at customs to enter the country. Kept for just 20 minutes, they were cloned and then returned to their unsuspecting owners.

The 12 Britons, some of whom have dual nationality, include father and daughter Michael and Gabriella Barney, 54 and 23, Daniel Marc Schnur, 32, Roy Allan Cannon, 62, Stephen Keith Drake, 54, Mark Daniel Sklar, 30, and Philip Carr, 35.

The Foreign Secretary said earlier it was an "outrage" that British passports were used in this way, and vowed that he would "get to the bottom" of what happened. But the Government has been eager to stress they are not accusing Israel of the assassination, and are purely reacting to the cloning.

It has been claimed the passports were used by Israeli agents to enter Dubai in order to carry out the assassination. CCTV footage from the hotel shows the male and female suspects walking calmly through the foyer before and after Mabhouh's death.

Dubai officials say they are "99 per cent certain" that Mabhouh was killed by a Mossad "hit squad". Medical reports from Dubai say the Hamas commander died from a massive electric shock to the head and showed signs of having been choked. ·