The three sons of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have demanded the resignation of the country’s prime minister, as it emerged that the car bomb that killed her was probably triggered by a mobile phone signal.

Investigators believe the bomber would have had visual contact with Mrs Caruana Galizia’s car as she left her home in the village of Bidnija on Monday. 

The bomber appears to have waited until the Peugeot was clear of other houses before detonating the device, which investigators believe was packed with Semtex, the plastic explosive that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.

Analysis of mobile phone calls may enable investigators to pin-point the bomber's location when the device was detonated.

Scotland Yard denied media reports that British detectives were set to fly to Malta to help with the investigation.

Investigators have reportedly found the mangled remains of the journalist’s laptop in the wreckage of her car, as well as remains of the bomb.

The journalist's sons called for the resignation of Joseph Muscat (L), Malta's prime minister - Credit: ReutersView photos

As Dutch and FBI experts continued to comb through the wreckage of the bombing, the journalist’s sons launched a stinging attack on Joseph Muscat, Malta’s prime minister.

In a strongly-worded message, they said the identification and arrest of whoever killed their mother would mean nothing unless it went hand-in-hand with rooting out corruption and money-laundering on the Mediterranean island.

"Resign for failing to uphold our fundamental freedoms. Resign for watching over the birth of a society dominated by fear, mistrust, crime and corruption. Resign for working to cripple our mother financially and dehumanise her so brutally and effectively that she no longer felt safe walking down the street,” Matthew, Andrew and Paul Caruana Galizia wrote on Facebook.

They refused to endorse a one million euro (£890,000) reward offered by the Maltese government, despite coming under “unrelenting pressure” from Mr Muscat to do so.

“We are not interested in a criminal conviction only for the people in government who stood to gain from our mother’s murder to turn around and say that justice has been served,” the brothers said. 

“Justice, beyond criminal liability, will only be served when everything that our mother fought for – political accountability, integrity in public life and an open and free society – replaces the desperate situation we are in.”

They said that Malta had been “taken apart piece by piece and devoured by the criminal and the corrupt.”

The bomb was so powerful that it blew the journalist's car off the road and into a field - Credit: ReutersView photo
Mrs Caruana Galizia’s relentless criticism of alleged corruption and cronyism among the Maltese political elite triggered an early election in June. 

She accused Mr Muscat and his wife of receiving payments from the ruling family of Azerbaijan and stashing the money in secret offshore accounts in Panama.  The Muscats deny the allegations.

There is speculation that the Italian mafia may have been behind the assassination – on her popular blog, Running Commentary, Mrs Caruana Galizia had accused Maltese online gambling companies of laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking by the mafia.

Italian prosecutors have warned in the past that the Camorra mafia, which is based in and around Naples, has infiltrated online betting operations.

There have been five other car bombings in Malta over the last two years, allegedly related to drug feuds.  The attacks caused four deaths and two serious injuries. None have been solved.

The killing of Mrs Caruana Galizia has shone a spotlight on Malta’s tax haven status, its alleged links with organized crime, a government scheme whereby wealthy foreigners can buy Maltese passports, and the shady dealings of an island that most Britons regard as a sun-soaked holiday destination.

Among ordinary Maltese people, there is plunging confidence in the country’s politicians, judiciary, police and business leaders. "Who is responsible? Frankly, we all are. The whole country," said Andrew Borg Cardona, a prominent veteran lawyer who is in practice with Mrs Caruana Galizia's husband.

"We've become not lawless, but the government has given the impression that you can virtually do what you like around here and get away with it," he told AFP. "The big fish do exactly as they please: build the buildings they want to build, launder the money they want to launder."

source: AFP