A 21-year-old woman was murdered in a case of suspected honour killing in Sindh's Sanghar district on Friday, police said.

Leela Chandio, the mother of a child, was gunned down in her village Talib Chandio within the limits of Shahdadpur police station in Sanghar.

Station House Officer (SHO) Shahdadpur Riaz Ahmed Bhutto said initial investigations showed the slain woman's husband and his cousin were involved in the murder.

According to the police official, initial investigations revealed that the cousin opened fire on the victim at the behest of her husband after they suspected her of allegedly having "illicit relations" with another man from the same village.

The two suspects, along with their close relatives, have reportedly moved to undisclosed locations while police teams in the area have been conducting raids to apprehend them.

Bhutto said a First Information Report (FIR) is being registered on the complaint of Abdul Karim Chandio, the victim's father.

The body of the victim was handed over to her parents after postmortem.

Speaking to a group of local journalists, Leela’s mother, Karima Chandio said her daughter was wrongly accused by her husband of having "illicit relations" with someone in the village.

Hundreds of women are murdered every year in Pakistan, often by their own relatives, for going against their families' wishes in matters of love and marriage.

The perpetrators of so-called honour killings often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.

The Aurat Foundation’s annual report of 2016 showed 7,852 cases of violence against women.

According to Saima Munir, who works for the Aurat Foundation, there has been a 70 per cent increase in honour killings in the past year.