Murder at the airport - the brazen attack on North Korean leader's half brother

FILE PHOTO: North Korean heir-apparent Kim Jong Nam (R) is escorted by police as he boards a plane upon his deportation from Japan at Tokyo's Narita international airport May 4, 2001. REUTERS/Eriko Sugita/File Photo

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - It was about 8:20 a.m. on Monday morning and there was a bustle of passengers in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur airport's budget terminal when the two women moved in on Kim Jong Nam, estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.

A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, one of the women stood in front of their quarry to distract him. Her accomplice approached from behind, pulled a cloth drenched in some chemical from a blue handbag, reached around his head and clamped it onto his face.