Kuala Lumpur:Â Malaysian police say assassins used the most potent nerve agent to kill Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.
A statement from the inspector-general of police on Friday said a preliminary analysis of substances taken from Mr Kim's face identified "VX nerve agent."Â
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Tensions escalate over Kim Jong-nam's death
A diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea is escalating over the handling of a probe into the killing of Kim Jong-nam.
The agent is deadly if inhaled and can also entry a person's body through the skin.
Police allege two Asian women rubbed a toxic substance on their hands and wiped it on Mr Kim's face in the low cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 in a plot orchestrated by at least seven North Korean men.
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Police say CCTV footage showed the women were told to wash their hands immediately after they confronted Mr Kim who became unwell, sought help from medical staff at the airport and died on the way to hospital.Â
The women, one a 28 year-old Vietnamese and a 25 year-old Indonesian have been arrested and remanded in custody.Â
Police say they also want to question a diplomat at North Korea's embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an official of North Korea's state-run airline.Â
VX nerve agent, or S-2 Diisoprophylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate, is chemical weapon classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
It is tasteless and odourless, and is outlawed under the Chemical Weapons Convention, except for "research, medical or pharmaceutical purposes".
It can be manufactured as a liquid, cream or aerosol. Absorbed in large doses, it is fatal after 15 minutes, according to the US Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Centre, making it the most toxic known nerve agent in the world.
"Other exhibits are under analysis," Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in the statement.
Malaysia on Thursday requested Interpol to put an alert out to apprehend four North Korean suspects in the murder.
Police are also holding one North Korean man, but are seeking another seven in connection with the murder.Â
with Reuters