ISLAMABAD, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- At least two people were killed in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Tuesday when police clashed with protestors as thousands attended funerals of 19 people who were killed in a bomb blast at a Shiite Muslim mosque.

    The apparent suicide attackers struck the Imam Bargah Ali Raza mosque on Monday when the people were offering evening prayers.

    Angry Shiites protestors attacked several shops and threw stones as a big funeral procession turned into violence on a main road in Karachi.

    Police fired tear gas at the crowd, who were confirmed ransacked and burnt shops and pelted stone at police, police chiefTariq Jameel quoted by local news agency News Network International as saying.

    He said paramilitary force was also deployed in the violence-stricken city to check any further violence.

    The police and paramilitary force were kept at a distance from the venue of the funeral procession to avoid any provocation of the mourners, Jameel said.

    "We were assured by the leaders that the funeral would be peaceful but the mourners attacked shops, threw out goods and burned tyres on roads," he said.

    The bombing at Imam Bargah Ali Raza mosque during Monday's evening prayers also injured at least 35 people, among whom several are stated to be in critical condition, doctors said.

    The attack led to overnight violence by hundreds of angry Shiite youths who set ablaze shops, cars, a bank and a government building and blocked highways and the main rail line.

    No one claimed responsibility for the bombing.

    Karachi has been hit by bombings and other incidents of violence several times in the past one month.

    The mosque bombing happened a day after the assassination Sunday of a senior Sunni Muslim scholar, Mufti Nazamuddin Shamzai,that also sparked violence in the city. Enditem