The dead men, aged in their 20s and 30s, were travelling in a car when they opened fire at the policemen at Km19.2 of the highway near the Lunas Toll Plaza at 4.40am, said Kedah CID chief SAC Mior Farid Al Athrash Wahid.

They died at the scene, he said, adding that none of the policemen was injured.

The police recovered a pistol and two machetes from the car, he told Bernama.

Mior Farid Al Athrash said several policemen patrolling in a car at Batu 7-½ Padang Serai spotted a car with four men which raised their suspicion.

“The policemen began to tail the car which then sped off. When the policemen identified themselves, the men stopped the car on the highway and one of them shot at the police,” he said.

The “Tebuk” Gang has been so named because it usually breaks into warehouses and supermarkets and steal money from safes.

In early July, the police said the gang, active in the south of the peninsula, had started operating in Kedah where they got away with about RM100,000 which was sent to Vietnam.

Four members of the gang were prosecuted in Jitra recently.