22 killed and 120 wounded as protesters try to storm US consulate in Pakistan

Staff Reporter: Violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi and in the country’s north on Sunday left at least 22 people dead and more than 120 others injured as pro-Iran demonstrators attempted to storm the U.S. Consulate, authorities said. In the north of the country, demonstrators also attacked U.N. and government offices. 

The violence came after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said that at least 50 people were also wounded in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition. 

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his “profound sorrow over the martyrdom” of Khamenei and conveyed his condolences to Iran, according to his office. He said: “Pakistan stands with the Iranian nation in this moment of grief and shares in their loss.” Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city’s main government hospital, confirmed six bodies and multiple injured people were brought to the facility. However, she said the death toll rose to 10 after four critically wounded people died. 

Twelve people were killed and over 80 wounded in clashes with police in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region when thousands of Shiite protesters angered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran attacked the offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), local police official Asghar Ali said. A government spokesman Shabir Mir said all staff working for those organizations was safe. He said protesters repeatedly clashed with police at various places in the region, damaged the offices of a local charity, and set fire to police offices. However, he said authorities had deployed troops and brought the situation under control. 

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said in a post on X that it was monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations at the U.S. Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore, as well as calls for additional protests at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate General in Peshawar.

It advised U.S. citizens in Pakistan to monitor local news, stay aware of their surroundings, avoid large crowds and keep their travel registration with the U.S. government up to date. 

Consulate windows smashed

In Karachi, which is the capital of southern Sindh province and Pakistan’s largest city, senior police official Irfan Baloch said that protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. Consulate, but were later dispersed. 

He dismissed as baseless reports that any part of the consulate building was set on fire. However, he said that protesters torched a nearby police post and smashed windows of the consulate before security forces arrived and regained control. 

Witnesses said that dozens of Shiite protesters remained gathered about a kilometer (half-mile) from the consulate, urging others to join them. They said one of the protesters had tried to burn a window of the consulate, before security forces arrived there and dispersed the demonstrators.

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