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KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaican police have launched a murder inquiry into the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup, saying he was strangled.
The death on Sunday was "due to asphyxiation by manual strangulation", deputy commissioner Mark Shields told a news conference at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston where Woolmer died on Sunday.
"Bob was a large man -- it would have taken some force," Shields added. "Hopefully we will bring the killers to justice as soon as possible. We will use every energy we possibly have to track down the killers."
The 58-year-old Briton died on Sunday after being found unconscious in his hotel room. The previous day, leading contenders Pakistan were eliminated from the World Cup by debutants Ireland in a result which stunned cricket.
The sport's governing body said the World Cup would continue despite the shock of Woolmer's murder which has completely overshadowed the seven-week tournament being played in the Caribbean for the first time.
Shields said there could be one or more people involved but added that there was no evidence of forced entry into his hotel room.
The police have seized the hotel's electronic records as part of the investigation.
Asked about marks that were found on Woolmer's neck, according to media reports this week, Shields responded: "There were no visible signs. The reasons for that I am not prepared to go into."
He appealed for the killer or killers to give themselves up and called for witnesses to come forward.
He added that there was no evidence of any theft and would not be drawn on the motive for the murder.
Asked about suggestions that a sub-continent betting mafia had been involved, Shields said: "Everything you have heard would be a line of inquiry." He said no stone would be unturned into discovering why Woolmer was murdered.
The police were still awaiting results of toxicology and histology (science of examining body tissue) tests.
International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said: "We face shock and outrage and great sadness for Bob's family. There has been speculation that as a result of all this, the World Cup will be discontinued. That will not be the case.
"Perhaps it will be a measure of the game and its resolve as to how we can complete this World Cup in view of this shock."
He said the former London Metropolitan Police commissioner Paul Condon was standing by and willing to assist with the murder inquiry. Condon has been involved with helping the ICC fight corruption within the sport.
Shields added that the Metropolitan Police, South African and Pakistan forces had been contacted over the investigation but so far the Jamaican police were working solely on the case.
The Pakistan cricket team, who flew from Kingston to Montego Bay on Jamaica earlier on Thursday, said they were shocked by the latest development.
"Tragic, yes, worrying yes, because we have a member of our team, a national coach of Pakistan who has been murdered and this is not something which can be taken lightly," the team's spokesman Pervez Mir told reporters.
"We are all very worried right now.'
- REUTERS
