Tunisia names Bosnian pair as suspected assassins of Hamas drone expert

Tunisian authorities have named two suspects in the assassination of a Tunisian described by Palestinian movement Hamas as a long-time member.

Tunisian police announced on Tuesday the development in the murder case of Mohamed Zouari, which has been widely blamed on Israeli operatives, the country's official news agency reported.

The Tunisian-Belgian engineer was shot dead by two gunmen outside his home in Tunisia's second largest city Sfax in December 2016.

An investigator alleged Bosnian nationals, named as Elvir Sarac and Alem Camdzic, carried out the murder of the Hamas-linked drone expert.

"Warrants were issued against the perpetrators of the crime except that the Bosnian authorities refused to hand them over to Tunisia for trial," the report said.

"It is not possible to prove the involvement of Mossad (the Israeli intelligence agency) if the perpetrators of the crime were not interrogated," it added.

Camdzic served in the police during Bosnia's 1990s war and became a professional soldier after the conflict, media reports said at the time.

Earlier this year, Croatia's top court blocked the extradition of one of the Bosnian suspects to Tunisia over the alleged murder.

Hamas has accused Mossad of assassinating Zouari, while the Tunisian government has said "foreign elements" were involved.

Israel has not responded to accusations it was behind the killing.

Israel has in the past been blamed for the murders of Palestinian scientists abroad, who were thought to have links to Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

Hamas has also accused Israel of killing Fadi al-Batsh, a Palestinian scientist living in Malaysia and said to be helping Hamas with its drone technology.