SHAH ALAM, Malaysia - Two brothers who smashed the side window of a senior executive's Mercedes Benz to snatch her hand bag from the front seat were killed in their haste to escape.

The men were riding on a motorcycle before they crashed into a taxi with the victim Junaili Abdul Hamid, 43, hot on pursuit in her car near Persiaran Subang.

The incident occurred at about 4.30pm while Junaili was waiting at a traffic junction of Persiaraan Kerjaya.

District police chief assistant commissioner Nor Azam Jamaluddin the brothers, one aged 30 and the other 25, were from Parit 3, Sungai Burong in Sekinchan.

"Our initial investigations revealed that one of the brothers who died near the crime scene could have succumbed to his injuries or had an asthma attack as we found an inhaler in his hand.

"The other man died due to injuries sustained after being thrown off his motorcycle," he said.

Junaili's husband Sheikh Feizal Sheikh Mohd, 43, a businessman, said she was fine but was in shock as her car had hit a van.

A relative of the brothers, who declined to be named, said they had not returned to their home for the past five months.