Enraged mourners smashed cars and shop windows Sunday during a funeral procession for two victims of a massacre at a local Shiite mosque in this southern port city.
Some 5,000 people gathered in central Karachi for the prayer session for two men killed Saturday when gunmen opened fire at the Imam Bargha Mehdi mosque, a Shiite house of worship near the city's airport. Many of the other seven victims had moved to Karachi from cities in northern Pakistan, and their bodies were being sent home for burial.
After the prayer session, mourners slowly made their way by car, bus and motorcycle toward the massacre site, where the men were to be buried.
"Arrest the killers," many mourners shouted, adding in a warning to the unknown gunmen, "We will take out our rage on you!"
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but suspicion immediately fell on Sunni extremist groups that often target members of Pakistan's Shiite minority.
Some in the crowd turned violent, ransacking at least five bank branches and four gas stations, setting parked motorcycles on fire and burning tires. The windows of dozens of shops were shattered by rocks.
The procession gradually dispersed after Shiite community leaders urged marchers to return home. No injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, more than 100 people led by a Shiite student group held a loud but peaceful demonstration in the central city of Multan in sympathy for the victims. Many marchers shouted slogans against the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, saying it had not done enough to provide security at the mosque.
The killings occurred Saturday evening just after the call to prayer. Many of the victims had been watching Pakistan's World Cup cricket match on television at an adjoining restaurant and were heading toward the mosque's interior when the gunmen approached, witnesses said. In addition to the nine people killed, nine people were injured.
Community leaders on Sunday hailed one of the victims as a hero, saying he barred the doors to the mosque as the gunmen closed in, saving many of those inside. The man, Mohammed Ali, died shortly afterward of his wounds.
"Had Mohammed Ali not shown the courage to get into the mosque and bolt the doors from inside, there would have been many more casualties inside," community leader Ahmed Ali told The Associated Press.
Another man named Mohammed Ali was injured in the attack but survived. The three men are not related.
Most of the deaths in the sectarian religious violence have been blamed on the Sunni extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, or SSP, which is outlawed by the government. A breakaway faction of the SSP, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, also is blamed for attacks on Shiite Muslims and several of its members have been arrested.
A spokesman for Sipah-e-Sahaba, Mujib-ur Rahman Inqilabi, denied Sunday that the group had anything to do with the killings.
"We strongly condemn any such act of terrorism," Inqilabi told the AP by cell phone from an undisclosed location. Inqilabi and many other SSP members have been in hiding since the group was banned. "We do not want any hatred to exist between the two sects."
The rivalry between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the seventh century. Most of Pakistan's 140 million people are Sunni Muslims who have no quarrel with their Shiite brethren.
The massacre was the first since October elections, when a coalition of hard-line Islamic parties came in a surprisingly strong third. The coalition had for the first time included both Shiite and Sunni parties, leading to hopes for more peaceful relations.
Witnesses of Saturday's attack said those who couldn't get back into the mosque fled toward the adjoining restaurant, but the gunmen followed them and shot them down. The gunmen then fled on motorcycles.
"Most of those killed were just young boys. They were watching TV and when the call to prayer started they switched off the TV and moved to the mosque," said Shafi Mohammed, another community leader. "After the shooting started, they rushed back to the restaurant but the gunmen followed and killed them there.
Authorities suspended a deputy police superintendent and another police official for failing to protect the mosque. The government has ordered all places of worship protected because of years of religious violence in Pakistan.