KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Two burglars who broke into two homes in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday (Nov 29) without wearing face masks were easily identified by their victims later.

Police were on alert after two burglars killed one of their victims after breaking into a bungalow in upscale Bangsar in the wee hours of Sunday.

The murder victim was Dr Wan Hassan Wan Embong, 73, a former agricultural researcher, who was slashed with a parang when he tried to put up a fight.

His wife, Madam Sarifah Yusof, 70, had slash wounds on her right hand.

The two men had broken through the kitchen window of the double-storey bungalow in Bukit Bandaraya.

A few hours later, at around 5.15am, the burglars broke into a second house, this time in the Titiwangsa housing estate close to downtown KL.

"The robbers were believed to have entered via a window which was pried open. Losses were estimated to be around RM38,000 (S$12,500)," Kuala Lumpur police chief Commssioner Saiful Azly Kamaruddin told reporters.

They tied up their victims before going through the house.

During the second robbery, one of the suspects threw away the wallet that belonged to Dr Wan Hassan.

The wallet contained his identification card, and made it easy for police to connect the two cases when they responded to another house break-in incident.

Police arrested the suspects after Madam Sarifah and the victims in the second robbery identified the criminals through police photofit pictures.

Datuk Saiful said the two men were believed to be responsible for both robberies, while eight other suspects arrested had links to the cases. Police did not say whether the suspects were Malaysians or foreign nationals.

He said police were still hunting for one more suspect and the murder weapon.

The 10 suspects, aged between 20 and 29 years, are being remanded for questioning for seven days.