KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Sunday, engaging in violent clashes with police and paramilitary forces that left at least nine people dead and about two dozen injured, authorities said.
The violence occurred hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a Karachi hospital said at least 25 people were injured in the clashes, some of them in critical condition.
Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city’s main government hospital, confirmed that six bodies and multiple injured were initially brought to the facility. However, she said the death toll rose to nine after three seriously injured people died.
Karachi is the capital of the southern province of Sindh and the largest city in Pakistan.
Senior police officer Irfan Baloch said protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. consulate but were later dispersed. “The situation is now completely under our control,” Baloch said.
He dismissed reports that any part of the consulate building had been set on fire, calling them baseless. However, he said protesters burned a nearby police post and smashed the consulate’s windows before security forces arrived and regained control.
Witnesses said dozens of Shia protesters still gathered about a kilometer (half a mile) from the consulate, urging others to join them. They said one protester tried to burn a window of the consulate before security forces arrived and dispersed the demonstrators.
In a statement, the Sindh government urged citizens to express their opinions peacefully and warned against engaging in violence.
Shias also held a peaceful rally in Multan, Punjab province, chanting slogans against Israel and the United States. Mamoona Sherazi, who attended the rally, said she was protesting the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. She described Khamenei as a fatherly figure and a staunch voice for Shiites, adding that he also supported Sunni Muslims facing oppression. “God willing, we will never bow to the United States and Israel,” she said.
Shias also held a rally near the U.S. consulate in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, police said. Senior police officer Faisal Kamran said demonstrators tried to protest outside the consulate but were not allowed. He said police dispersed the crowd as it tried to move towards the building.
Rallies are also planned in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country. Authorities said the government had increased security around the U.S. Embassy in the capital and consulates across the country to avoid further violence.
Pakistan has a population of approximately 250 million, with Shia accounting for approximately 15%, making it one of the largest Shia communities in the world. They have held frequent anti-Israel and anti-American rallies in the past, but clashes of this scale are rare.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan, and Asim Tanvir in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
