They also shot a young man in his right leg.

The Khan family of Lot 57 Acme Housing Scheme was attacked around 01:30 hrs by the gunmen who all wore masks.

Nadira Khan said she was awakened by a noise from the direction of her bathroom.

She said she woke up her younger son, Intaz, 21, and they went to the bathroom and found that the window panes had been removed.

They peeped through the window but did not see anyone, the mother said.

By now, the entire family was awakened and on high alert and they sat in the living room watching television.

Nadira said that since they were feeling uneasy, Intaz picked up a cutlass and went to the back door.

But as he reached the door, it was kicked open and four men wearing masks and carrying guns stormed into the home.

The bandits saw Intaz behind the door and braced him to the wall before shooting him in his right leg and relieving him of the cutlass, his mother related.

But when the gunmen saw this, one began hitting him in his back with the cutlass, while the other ripped the telephone cord off the wall. They also hit him in the head with a gun butt, Nadira said.

She told the Chronicle that while Intaz lay bleeding from the gunshot wound, the bandits placed a gun to her head and demanded cash and jewellery.

She said they were forced to hand over some $1M in jewellery, $100,000 cash and US$50.

Not satisfied, the bandits began demanding more and threatened to shoot her if the demands were not met.

Zabeeda Khan, 74, who was forced to sit in a corner, began pleading with the gunmen not to shoot anyone else.

The bandits spent some 30 minutes in the home ransacking the three bedrooms, and tumbling clothing out of the wardrobes before they left, but not before firing two shots in the building.

One bullet pierced the glass in a cabinet, while the other left a hole in a wall.

The wounded Intaz was taken to hospital by family friends and was treated and discharged.

Shafeek Khan, who was in his farm at Parika, several miles west, when his family was attacked, said he was outraged by what happened, since everyone in the family worked hard to earn what they have.

It was the second time the family suffered at the hands of bandits, he said.

They were robbed in 1993 at Hogg Island in the Essequibo River.