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ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (Reuters) Scores of angry followers of slain Pakistani Sunni militant leader Azam Tariq went on a rampage in Islamabad on Tuesday, smashing cars and torching a cinema, and injuring at least two people.

Tariq, leader of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and a member of parliament, was assassinated in a hail of bullets along with his driver and three bodyguards as he drove into the capital on Monday.

His death threatens to inflame tension between extremist Sunnis and Shi'ite Muslims after a wave of sectarian killings in recent months.

"We have been saying from day one that Shi'ites and Iran are involved in such incidents," said senior SSP official Ali Sher Haidari.

"This incident will increase violence in the country," he told reporters in Jhang, 300 km (190 miles) south of Islamabad, where the militant leader will be buried later on Tuesday.

Small groups of Tariq's followers smashed cars, traffic signals and torched a cinema after prayers were held for the militant leader outside parliament.

Witnesses said at least two people with burn injuries were taken away from the cinema. "The theatre has been completely gutted," a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.

Thousands of supporters attended the prayers in Islamabad where SSP members vowed to further his struggle against minority Shi'ites, who make up about 15 percent of Pakistan's 149 million people.

"I warn the government and our enemies that unless they are declared non-Muslims Tariq's mission and struggle would continue," another SSP leader, Masood-ur Rehman Usmani, said at the gathering, referring to Shi'ites.

Tariq's body was then flown by helicopter to his old stronghold of Jhang, where he will be buried.

SSP officials blamed the government for not providing adequate security for the militant leader, and threatened to demolish parliament unless his killers were caught soon.

Police were braced for more violence and sent guards to protect religious leaders. "All law enforcing agencies throughout the country have been put on high alert," said interior ministry spokesman Iftikhar Ahmed. "We have also stepped up security for mosques and Shi'ite community centres."

Tariq's killing came after a spate of sectarian violence in Pakistan, culminating in the the worst attack in years in July when suspected Sunni militants sprayed gunfire on worshippers in a Shi'ite mosque in Quetta, killing more than 50.

On Friday, six Shi'ites were killed in an attack on a bus in the southern city of Karachi. Hundreds of angry mourners burned tyres and threw stones in the city on Saturday.

Tariq's shooting took place on the day U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met President Pervez Musharraf for talks focused on the U.S.-led war on terror.

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