DUBAI, Nov 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - United Arab Emirates authorities identified on Monday the three suspects in the murder of an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi in the Gulf country, saying they were from Uzbekistan.

The suspects were arrested on Sunday after the body of UAE-based rabbi Tzvi Kogan, 28, was found by security services.

"The authorities revealed the identities of the three perpetrators, all of whom are Uzbek nationals," said an interior ministry statement carried by the official WAM news agency.

After "preliminary investigations", the statement named the suspects as Olimboy Tohirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28, and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33.

The ministry said authorities were taking "the necessary actions to uncover the details, circumstances and motives of the crime".
Israeli officials have called the murder an anti-Semitic and "terrorist" attack.

The Muslim-majority Gulf state with an overwhelmingly expatriate population prides itself on its safety, stability and religious tolerance.

Kogan was in the UAE as a representative of the Chabad Hasidic movement, which is known for its outreach efforts worldwide.

The UAE normalised relations with Israel in 2020 alongside Bahrain and Morocco in a series of US-brokered agreements known as the Abraham Accords.

There is no figure for the number of Jews in the UAE, but an Israeli official has told AFP there were about 2,000 Israelis in the Gulf country, with the Jewish community estimated to be up to twice that figure.