At least 9 killed as Shiites storm US Consulate in Pakistan over killing of Iran’s supreme leader
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — At least nine people were killed and nearly two dozen others were injured in violent clashes with police and paramilitary forces Sunday after hundreds of protesters attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, officials said.
The violence came hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi 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 several injured were initially brought to the facility. However, he said that the death toll increased to nine after three seriously injured people died.
The US Embassy in Pakistan wrote on U.S. citizens in Pakistan are advised to monitor local news, be aware of their surroundings, avoid large crowds, and keep their travel records current with the U.S. government.
Karachi is the capital of Southern Sindh province and the largest city in Pakistan.
Senior police official Irfan Baloch said that the protesters briefly attacked the area around the US Consulate but later dispersed. He dismissed reports that any part of the consulate building was set on fire as unfounded. But he said protesters set fire to a nearby police station and broke the windows of the consulate before security forces arrived and regained control.
Witnesses said dozens of Shiite protesters gathered about a kilometer (half a mile) from the consulate and urged others to join them. They said one of the protesters tried to burn the window of the consulate before security forces arrived there and dispersed the demonstrators.
This led Pakistani Interior Minister Muhsin Naqvi to call for calm.
“After the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every Pakistani citizen shares the pain of the Iranian people,” he said in the statement. He called it “a day of mourning for the Muslim ummah and the people of both Iran and Pakistan” but urged people not to take the law into their own hands and to express their protests peacefully.
In its statement, the Sindh provincial government also called on citizens to express their opinions peacefully and warned them not to resort to violence. The area surrounding the US Consulate in Karachi resembled a conflict zone as protests continued for hours, with dozens of Shiite youths covering their faces, throwing rocks at law enforcement and vowing to reach the consulate, where hundreds of police and paramilitary Rangers were stationed.
Shiites also held a peaceful rally in Multan city of Punjab province and chanted slogans against Israel and the USA. Mamoona Sherazi, who attended the rally, said that she was protesting the killing of Iran’s religious leader. Describing Khamenei as a fatherly figure and a strong voice for Shiites, Khamenei added that he also supports Sunni Muslims facing oppression. “With God’s permission, we will never bow down to America and Israel,” he said.
Police said Shiites also held a rally near the US Consulate in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province. A rally was also planned in the capital Islamabad and elsewhere in the country. The government has increased security around the U.S. Embassy in the capital and consulates across the country to prevent further violence, officials said.
Shiites make up about 15% of Pakistan’s population of approximately 250 million and represent one of the largest Shiite communities in the world. They have frequently held anti-Israel and anti-US rallies in the past, but clashes on this scale are rare.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan, and Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.
