A sword-wielding assailant in Kedah sliced off and stole the left hand of a former relative, according to reports Monday.

His victim, Shamsuddin Shafie, 54, also had three fingers on his right hand chopped off in the attack on Saturday night outside a restaurant.

Shamsuddin was at the restaurant with his wife Siti Fatimah Kadir when the attacker, a man in his 30s, called to him from outside the eatery.

The man, wielding a 60-centimetre sword, then attacked Shamsuddin who lost the fingers as he warded off the blows.

The attacker then hacked off Shamsuddin's left hand, picked it up and fled on a motorcycle, leaving shocked onlookers to retrieve the other fingers, the New Straits Times reported.

"I am sad that it had to end this way. I pray he will return my husband's hand for a proper burial," said Siti Fatimah.

She said the two men knew each other. "He had several quarrels with him over many issues. The last they fought about was over land matters," she was quoted as saying.

The Star daily said the attacker was once married to a cousin of Shamsuddin.

Shamsuddin was rushed to hospital in the regional capital where his fingers were re-attached by surgeons.

His family is still looking for the assailant and the hand, reports said.