New Delhi – The Malaysian police arrested a Burmese national following a failed attempt at committing suicide outside the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, a Burmese activist, quoting police sources said.

While there was no eyewitness, a Burmese labour rights activist, Ye Min Tun said the Malaysian police summoned and informed him about the incident.

According to the Malaysian police, Saw Noung, the Burmese national, on Tuesday afternoon first hurled a petrol bomb at the Burmese embassy but the bomb exploded before hitting the building.

"He then doused himself with petrol and was about to set himself ablaze, when the Malaysian police in plainclothes grabbed and took him away," said Ye Min Tun, quoting the police.

Officials at the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur, however, declined comment.

Ye Min Tun said the Malaysian police suspects Saw Noung to be a Burmese opposition activist and told him to take responsibility for the movement by Burmese opposition activists in Kuala Lumpur.

"They [the police] warned that Burmese opposition activists in Malaysia need to be careful about their activities and not disturb law and order in the country," Ye Min Tun said.

Ye Min Tun, who has spearheaded several Burmese opposition activities in Kuala Lumpur, however, denied knowledge of Saw Noung being an opposition activist.

"I don't know him [Saw Noung] and I have never seen him," Ye Min Tun said.

While the reason behind Saw Noung's attempted suicide remains unknown, Malaysian police said he is currently in custody.

Tuesday's suicide attempt and attack on the Burmese embassy is not the first of its kind. In 2006 April, an embassy official committed suicide by setting himself ablaze in the embassy precincts.