SUKKUR: A 20-year-old woman and her uncle were killed when two groups of heavily armed men took up positions and traded fire for about three hours in a village of Jacobabad district over a matter of cow theft on Monday night. The area police remained on the sidelines until the gun battle was over.

Reports from Gulbahar Banglani village, located on the outskirts of the district, suggested that a quarrel took place between some members of the Dahani community on one side and a group of men belonging to the Banglani community on the other following theft of a cow.

Both sides took up arms and started shooting on each other. As the gun battle turned fierce, they took up positions and intensified firing with their sophisticated weapons. The area police were present close to the battle field but they did not intervene even after a large number of women from both sides came out of their houses and asked them to get the battle stopped.

The women then brought copies of the Holy Quran from their houses and, each one carrying one copy on her head, went to their respective community members to beg them to stop shooting.

The police entered the village after the battle and collected the bodies of Faiza Banglani, 20, and her uncle, Ghulam Shabbir Banglani. Two other persons, Shoukat Ali and Liaquat Ali, both belonging to the Dahani community, were found wounded in the clash.

The personnel of the Punho Bhatti police station transported the bodies and wounded persons to the Jacobabad Civil Hospital.

After a post-mortem examination, the bodies were handed over to the heirs. The wounded persons were admitted to the hospital for treatment.

Neither any of those involved in the gun battle was arrested nor was the case of the incident registered till late Tuesday evening.

The situation in the village and nearby localities dominated by the either communities was tense as people feared a flare up following the casualties and the unresolved issue of cow theft.