Karachi, May 31 (Reuters): Eleven people were killed in a night of violence in Karachi when a suicide attack on a mosque blamed on a group linked to al Qaida spiralled into a riot that burned to death six at American fast-food outlet KFC.

Angry Shias set fire to the restaurant in revenge after five people were killed and 18 wounded in the Monday night suicide bomb blast at a Shia mosque in Karachi’s middle-class Gulshan-e-Iqbal district, police said today.

The mob torched the KFC outlet minutes after the blast at the mosque, and then ransacked a hospital, two petrol stations and burned more than a dozen vehicles.

The latest violence in one of America’s allies in its war on terrorism came three days after a suicide bombing at a festival in Islamabad killed 19 people, mostly Shias, the worst-ever attack in Pakistan’s capital. A crowd of Shia youths chanting: “Down with America” tried to set to fire to another KFC outlet today during a funeral for a victim of Monday’s attack, but police repelled them with batons. Police also detained about two dozen protesters who threw rocks at cars, shops and police. Shia mobs often target symbols of US influence after sectarian attacks.