A group of Indonesian workers, enraged when a couple refused to re-open their foodstall and serve them, stabbed the woman to death and seriously injured her husband, reports said today.

The victims, who were also Indonesian, were attacked by the labourers at a construction site in western Selangor state as they closed up in the early hours of yesterday, the official Bernama news agency said.

The 35-year-old woman died of stab wounds, while her husband was being treated in hospital for injuries to his left arm, said district police chief Shah Gzali Khan Shahadad.

Frequent clashes

Shah Gzali said the construction workers were from Flores in Indonesia while the couple hailed from the island of Madura, and that the site had been the scene of frequent clashes between the two ethnic groups.

Brawls between foreign workers of different ethnicities and nationalities erupt occasionally in Malaysia, which is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour.

The government this year announced that foreign workers must undergo a course in the local language and culture before they are allowed to work here amid fears that clashes may involve Malaysian nationals in the future.

Foreign workers, both legal and illegal, number about 2.6 million of Malaysia's 10.5 million workforce.