KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Two men believed to be criminals involved in robberies at construction sites were killed in shootouts with the police in two separate locations here early today.

In the 3.30 am incident, a team from the Serious Crime Investigation Division (D9) of Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters that was patrolling the construction area in Bandar Baru Sentul had stumbled upon two suspicious-looking Proton Waja cars.

Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Datuk Mazlan Lazim said when both suspects were aware of the presence of police vehicles, they sped off towards two different directions.

"The D9 team then split into two, to pursue the suspects. One of the suspect’s cars was intercepted in front of a mosque in Sentul. However, the suspect, in his attempt to escape, had hit the police’s car and shot at the police who had to return fire,” he told a press conference here today.

Mazlan said the second suspect’s car was intercepted at Jalan Segambut.

 "After hitting the police car, the second suspect  shot at the police who had to return fire in self-defence. Both suspects died on the spot.

He said initial investigations revealed that the two suspects, both male, aged 46 and 26 years, from Penang and Kuala Lumpur respectively, had criminal records involving burglary cases.

"We also checked the suspects’ cars and found two pistols, several live ammunition and bullet casings, three machetes, a cable cutter unit, and the cars were filled with copper wire believed to be loots from the robberies.

"We also believe there are other individuals involved with the two suspects and we will track them down,” said Mazlan adding that the bodies were sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for post-mortem. — Bernama