LARKANA, April 14: Two real cousins were killed in an exchange of fire in Rahimoo Khoso village in Gaji Khuhawar (Warah) on Thursday over a dispute involving a fighter cock.

According to villagers, the dispute started when Haji Khoso killed his brother Ramzan Khoso two years ago after Ramzan refused to sell his fighting cock to him.

Haji Khoso fled after the murder and was nominated in a case in his absence.

On Thursday, six men on two motorcycles attacked late Ramzan's house and shot dead Ramzan's son Gulzar Ahmed, 25.

In the ensuing exchange of fire Ghulam Ali, son of Din Mohammad Khoso, was also killed, while others sped away on the bikes. The two deceased were real cousins.

Sources in the village said that the attackers chose the time when Ramzan's relatives were in Qambar to attend a hearing in the murder case.

Gaji Khuhawar police took the bodies to Warah taluka hospital, which were handed over to relatives after autopsy.

Warah DSP Ali Bakhsh Dakhan rejected the cause behind the dispute being a fighter cock and said that the root cause of the contention was 25 acres of land near the village.

He said the fighter cock story was concocted to hush up the crime and escape charges.

The two brothers Haji Khoso and Ramzan Khoso had been at daggers drawn with each other to get major portion of the land, which remained disputed because their father Allah Rakhiyo was reluctant to distribute the land among his sons, said the DSP.