18 Killed as Gunmen Open Fire on 2 Pakistan Mosques : Islam: Shiite worshipers are massacred in an escalating feud with Sunnis. Same four gunmen apparently responsible for both attacks.

Gunmen opened fire on worshipers in two Shiite mosques early today, killing at least 18 men and wounding many more, police and witnesses said.

The massacres were part of the escalating feud in Pakistan between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has left hundreds dead, mostly in the southern port city of Karachi.

The latest killings brought the overnight death toll to 25. Seven people were gunned down Friday night, including two men shot at a Sunni mosque. Today’s shootings may have been in retaliation for the shooting at that mosque.

In the first attack today, six men were killed and several injured when four assailants began shooting with automatic weapons in the Abu-al-Abbas mosque in the Karachi East district.

The shooting occurred at 6 a.m. as worshipers gathered for morning prayers, said a witness, Lt. Cmdr. Mairaj Abbas of the Pakistani navy.

One of the dead was a naval officer, he said.

About 30 minutes later, 12 people were killed and six injured when gunmen fired on worshipers who had been herded into one room at the Mehfil Murtaza mosque, two miles from the site of the earlier massacre, an official said.

It appeared likely that the two shootings were carried out by the same gunmen, according to Nazim Haji, co-chairman of the Police-Citizens Liaison Committee, a private group that assists law enforcement officers.

Political, religious and ethnic feuds have all been factors in the almost daily shootings that have left more than 1,000 people dead over the last year in Karachi, Pakistan’s business capital with a population of at least 10 million.

Criminal gangs and drug traffickers also run rampant.

The army patrolled the streets for more than two years, but Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto withdrew the force at the end of November and said police could maintain order.

However, the violence immediately worsened, and more than 200 people have been killed in the last two months.

In one of the worst attacks, gunmen with automatic rifles fired on men attending evening prayers Feb. 5 at the Babul Islam Mosque, leaving nine dead and more than a dozen wounded.