At least ten people were killed and more than 50 injured today in the Pakistani city of Karachi in violent clashes between security forces and protesters who tried to storm the US consulate, authorities said.
Protesters also attacked United Nations (UN) and government offices, in response to yesterday's American and Israeli attack on Iran and the assassination of 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.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed "deep sorrow over the martyrdom" of Khamenei and offered condolences to Iran, according to a statement from his cabinet.
He said that "Pakistan stands with the Iranian people in this moment of grief and shares their loss."
In the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan, thousands of Shiite protesters attacked the offices of the UN Military Observer Group and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), government spokesman Shabir Mir said, adding that all staff working for the organisations were safe.
The United States (US) Embassy in Pakistan said in a post on X that it is monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations outside the consulates general in Karachi and Lahore, as well as calls for additional protests outside the US Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate General in Peshawar.
The clashes prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to appeal for calm.
"Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan shares the grief of the people of Iran," Naqvi said.
Police fired tear gas at protesters in Islamabad and Peshawar.
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