9 killed in Karachi after violent protest over Khamenei's death

At least nine people were killed and about two dozen were wounded in violent clashes with police and paramilitary forces on Sunday after hundreds of pro-Iran protesters stormed the US Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

- Tariq Butt | Associated Press

The violence came hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said at least 25 people were also wounded in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition.

Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city’s main government hospital, confirmed that initially six bodies and multiple injured people were brought to the facility. However, she said the death toll rose to nine after three critically wounded died.

The situation warranted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to issue an appeal, urging people to remain peaceful. In a statement, he said, “Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan shares in the grief of the people of Iran.” He described it as “a day of mourning for the Muslim Ummah and for the people of both Iran and Pakistan,” but urged people not to take the law into their own hands and to express their protests peacefully. The provincial government of Sindh in a statement also urged citizens to express their views peacefully and warned against engaging in violence.