GEORGE TOWN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK): A pair of mutilated legs believed to be that of a murdered foreigner was found on Friday at the Pulau Burung dumpsite in mainland Penang.

Penang police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Abdul Rahim Hanafi said policemen rushed to the scene in Nibong Tebal at noon after receiving a public tip-off over the gruesome discovery.

He said the bloated legs had been sent to Seberang Jaya Hospital for a DNA analysis.

"We were tipped off over the right leg at noon and 30 minutes later, the left leg was found dumped at the site. It was just a short distance apart," he told reporters after attending a community policing event in Pulau Aman.

Earlier, it was reported that a woman, believed to be that of a foreigner, was found brutally murdered.

The body was found without a head and legs. The torso and the arms were found stuffed into a luggage bag in Jalan Kebun Bunga here. SDCP Rahim described the find as the most gruesome case they have come across this year.

He had said the crime took place at a different location and the body was dumped there. The woman could have been dead for between 24 and 36 hours.

The body was one of two headless ones found in Penang this week, the latest in a series of similarly gruesome discoveries in the state.

On Tuesday, the headless body of a woman was found floating in the sea off Pulau Kendi by fishermen and the victim was identified as Halimahtusakdiah, 33, from north Sumatra.

In October, police discovered the body of a man with his throat slit. Sixteen Myanmar nationals had been murdered in the same way in Penang this year.

Universiti Sains Malaysia criminologist Assoc Prof Dr P. Sundramoorthy said they could not rule out any possibility, including that of a serial killer on the loose in Penang.