A Kelantan Road Transport Department (RTD) officer was found stabbed to death at a parking lot of the Terengganu Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maidam) this morning.

Passers-by stumbled on the body of Mohd Sukri Hussin, 34, who sustained six stab wounds, including in the neck and chest at 11.36am.

Six minutes earlier, the RTD officer was believed to have been involved in a fight with a man who was armed with a knife.

State CID chief ACP Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Hamzah said initial investigations revealed the alleged assailant, who was married, was keen to marry Mohd Sukri's sister.

He said when Mohd Sukri's family and the suspect checked the latter's status with Maidam, it was found that the suspect, who was from Terengganu, was married.

"At that juncture, a quarrel broke out between Mohd Sukri and the suspect. Later at the car park, the duo were involved in a fight before the RTD officer was found stabbed to death.

"The suspect fled from the scene and with the aid of a friend who was at the wheel of a Honda Civic, brandished a knife at a security guard who was on duty at Maidam's main entrance and left the premises," he told reporters at the scene of the killing.

Wan Abdul Aziz said the police were in the midst of tracking the suspect and the accomplice via an operation, 'Ops Tutup' and believed the duo were still in the state.

Meanwhile, security guard, Mohd Suffian Yusof, 23, said at the time of the incident, he was about to close Maidam's main gate when the suspect who arrived in a car driven by a man, threatened him with a knife.

He said the armed man shouted at him, saying he did not want to disturb anyone.

"The man then opened the gate and sped away in the car. I was unaware a murder had been committed. I thought it was a car-jacking case," he added. -- BERNAMA