17 killed at pro-Iran protests across Pakistan
At least 17 people were killed Sunday across Pakistan as protesters outraged over the death of Iran's supreme leader took to the streets, with some attempting to storm US diplomatic buildings.
In the Pakistani megacity of Karachi, an AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the US consulate, prompting clashes with police.
At least 10 people had died and over 70 were injured as of Sunday evening, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said.
Earlier, a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.
In the northern city of Gilgit, at least seven people were killed and many more injured in clashes with police, rescue official Zaheer Shah told AFP by phone.
Thousands gathered in the streets of the capital Islamabad, many holding photos of late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, with AFP witnessing police deploy tear gas to disperse crowds near the US embassy.
Israel and the United States launched their mass aerial campaign on Iran early Saturday, quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighouring Pakistan.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday evening that the killing of Khamenei was a "violation" of international law.
"It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted," Sharif wrote on X.
The "people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom" of Khamenei, he added.
At Sunday's Karachi protest, people chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.
"We don't need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US," a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.
Earlier a crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.
Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.
The embassies of the United States and Britain both urged citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.
- American 'stooges' -
Around 4,000 people took to the streets in the capital Islamabad, where AFP journalists heard overhead gunfire, believed to be to disperse the crowd, and saw tear gas even before the planned start of a rally at 3:00 pm.
Zahra Mumtaz, a 52-year-old housewife from nearby Rawalpindi, said: "Our leader has been martyred, and we are not even allowed to protest."
"The least the government could do is let us express our grief," she told AFP, crying.
"Our leaders are nothing but stooges of the Americans... The Americans and Israelis will have to pay for this."
In the northern city of Skardu, protesters stormed and set fire to a United Nations office, causing black smoke to rise from the building, an AFP reporter saw.
At least three nearby vehicles were completely burned.
Thousands of people also took to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore.
Since the launch of the US-Israeli operations, Prime Minister Sharif has announced several calls with other regional leaders -- whose countries have been targeted by Iranian retaliatory attacks -- and urged restraint.
His statements have notably called the attacks on Iran an Israeli operation -- excluding mention of the major US involvement.
G.Papazoglou--AN-GR
