Pakistan Riots Go On; Muslim Leader Buried

Riots stretched into a second day Saturday over the killing of a Sunni Muslim leader, with protesters burning cars, smashing billboards and blocking roads in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and main commercial hub.

In the eastern city of Lahore, police used tear gas and steel-tipped batons to disperse about 300 of the slain leader’s supporters, who threw stones and burned furniture to block roads near Data Darbar, a shrine for a Muslim saint.

Scores of people were injured and several protesters arrested, police said.

The violence followed Friday’s killing of Saleem Qadri, leader of the Muslim group Sunni Tehrik. Gunmen ambushed Qadri’s van, killing him and five companions. Qadri’s 10-year-old son and two others were wounded.

Thousands of mourners attended a funeral for Qadri on Saturday. Meanwhile, paramilitary soldiers patrolled Karachi’s dusty streets. At several places, police armed with tear gas shells pursued mobs of violent protesters.

Police blamed his death on the rival Sunni Muslim group Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet. Sipah-e-Sahaba is one of Pakistan’s most militant Sunni Muslim groups and has sharp differences with Qadri’s nonviolent Sunni Tehrik.

At least 40 Sipah-e-Sahaba members were arrested overnight on suspicion of killing Qadri, said Tariq Jameel, chief of Karachi police.

Sipah-e-Sahaba spokesman Maulana Ilyas Zubair said the group was not involved.

Sunni Muslim factions are divided into several schools of thought, which are often at loggerheads over small religious issues.