CAIRO - Up to 12 people were killed in a gunfight between members of two tribes from a southern Egyptian village sparked by a long-running row over land ownership, security sources said on Sunday.

The fighting erupted on Saturday evening over which of the two tribes owned a piece of agricultural land near al-Hikma village in Egypt's southern Aswan province, the sources said. Security forces imposed a curfew on the village, the sources added.

Many people own weapons in rural Egypt. Violent clashes have erupted in the past, but analysts say a breakdown of law and order since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year has contributed to such flare-ups since then.