Four Myanmar Workers Killed in Machete Attack in Malaysia

A machete attack on 13 Myanmar nationals in Malaysia on Thursday has left four men dead and three seriously injured as the group returned from working overtime in the capital Kuala Lumpur, said a Myanmar civil society organization that operates in the area.

The deadly assault occurred in the Bukit Serdang area in the southern part of the city after the men left a television hardware factory where they worked at 10 p.m., said San Win, chairman of the Kathpone Free Funeral Service Society in Kuala Lumpur, which provides free funerals for its impoverished citizens in the country.

“Thirteen people were returning to their homes together after they had worked overtime, and a group of people attacked them with knives,” San Win said. “Four were killed, and three were sent to a hospital. They didn’t see well who the attackers were because it was nighttime.”

One of the three sent to Serdang general hospital died Friday evening, he said.

Myanmar embassy officials have filed a case at a local police station, San Win said.

A motive for the attack remains unknown.

San Win told the online journal The Irrawaddy that four of the victims had official passports while another three are believed to be migrant workers.

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by Zarni Htun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.