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San Jose - Itai Elias, 26, of Ashkelon was murdered in Costa Rica on Monday, apparently during a robbery. His brother, who was not hurt, witnessed the incident.

According to another version, the Israeli was killed during a brawl with a group of locals. The victim's family has received notification

of his death, and the Israeli embassy in San Jose said it was handling the affair.

Elias and his brother left Israel for Costa Rica a few days ago. His step-father told Ynet, "We don’t know anything yet and prefer to wait for an announcement from an official source. (The brother) phoned us and said there was a mugging and that they had been threatened with a gun; he said they handed their money over and were then shot at. The robbers fled the scene. He's still confused."

The victim's uncle said, "A woman knocked on their hotel room door at 3 am. They opened the door and then the robbers walked in and mugged them at gunpoint. At a certain point (the victim) apparently made a gesture that made the robbers nervous and they shot him. It took a while before he was evacuated."

In February an Israeli businessman residing in Costa Rica was shot to death at a restaurant owned by him in the town of Hermosa, on the Pacific shore.

The murder of Arno (Pfeifer) Zayit, 38, took place near the resort town of Jaco, a two-hour drive from the capital city of San Jose. There were no witnesses, but members of the Jewish community in Costa Rica said the murder was probably due to a personal debt.

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