By Ariba Shahid and Akhtar Soomro
KARACHI, Pakistan/BAGHDAD, March 1 (Reuters) – At least nine protesters were shot and killed when crowds breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi following news of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Death to Israel, death to America,” the protesters shouted.
Meanwhile in Iraq, police fired tear gas and stun grenades to scatter hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters who had gathered outside the Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, where the U.S. embassy is located.
Pakistan and Iraq have the largest Shi’ite Muslim populations after Iran.
In Karachi, protesters were pushed back from the consulate after they breached the outer security layer, said Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani, a local government spokesman. They also set a vehicle ablaze outside the main gate and clashed with police, he said.
U.S. consulate security officials opened fire at the protesters, Hemnani said.
“We are in constant touch with consulate officials. They are all safe,” he added.
At least nine protesters were killed and another 34 suffered injuries, police said. Karachi’s Civil Hospital said all those killed and injured were hit with gunshots.
The U.S. consulate in Karachi and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Reuters reporters heard sounds of gunfire and saw tear gas being fired in streets around the compound. Video footage showed protesters holding pictures of Khamenei and chanting anti-U.S. slogans before the clashes erupted.
“We are monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations,” the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said in a post on X, advising U.S. citizens in Pakistan to observe good personal security practices.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi urged protesters to remain peaceful. “We stand with you,” he said, adding that every Pakistani was as grief-stricken as the people of Iran.
The provincial government ordered a high-level inquiry to determine how the situation escalated and identify those responsible.
UN OFFICE SET ON FIRE
Large number of protesters also took to streets in other parts of Pakistan, carrying black flags and chanting “down with America!” and anti-Israel slogans.
Protesters set fire to a United Nations office building in the northern city of Skardu, in the normally peaceful Shi’ite-majority Gilgit Baltistan region popular with tourists.
“A large number of protesters have gathered outside the UN office and burned down the building,” local government spokesperson Shabbir Mir told Reuters, adding no casualties had been reported.
In the central city of Lahore, police said hundreds of protesters gathered outside the U.S. consulate. There were some small-scale clashes with police, who fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
Some of the protesters tried to damage the security gate, hundreds of yards away from the consulate, police said.
In the capital Islamabad, all roads leading to the Red Zone, which houses diplomatic missions, including the U.S. embassy and parliament, were blocked to traffic, police said.
The police fired teargas when hundreds of protesters tried to march toward the diplomatic enclave, a Reuters witness said.
Western diplomatic missions in Pakistan have stepped up security protocols, according to diplomatic sources, restricting staff movement across the country as tensions flare.
(Reporting by Akhtar Soomro and Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Saad Sayeed and Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Christina Fincher)
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