At least nine people have been killed in clashes outside the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, officials said, as angry crowds smashed windows and security forces used batons and tear gas to disperse them. About 25 people were injured, several critically.
The violence followed reports that Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, had been killed in US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic. Reuters quoted Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani, a local government spokesman, saying consulate security officials opened fire at protesters.
“No one will be allowed to take the law into their hands,” Sindh Province Interior Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar told local media, adding that action would be taken against those disturbing law and order.
In Islamabad, police closed all access roads to the Red Zone — the secured area housing foreign embassies and government offices — as a precaution. The US Embassy in Islamabad said it was monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations in Karachi and Lahore and noted calls for further protests at the US Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate General in Peshawar.
Pakistan is home to one of the world’s largest Shiite Muslim communities.
The US-Israeli campaign has sparked protests elsewhere, notably in Iraq, where demonstrators in Baghdad tried to breach the fortified Green Zone to attack the US embassy. Eyewitnesses reported several hundred people clashed with security forces, who used batons, live ammunition, tear gas and water cannons.
In Ecuador, authorities said a convoy of attackers broke windows and assaulted worshippers at an Iranian cultural center in Quito during Ramadan prayers; one person was injured and the site damaged. Videos circulating on social media showed people outside the center carrying Israeli, US and Iranian opposition flags. Police described the incident as “an act of aggression.”
Edited by: Rana Taha