At least 22 people killed in Pakistan as protesters try to storm US
Consulate
[March 02, 2026]
By ADIL JAWAD AND MUNIR AHMED
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Violent clashes between protesters and security
forces in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi and in the country's
north left at least 22 people dead and more than 120 others injured as
demonstrators supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a
U.S. Consulate on Sunday, authorities said.
In the north of the country, demonstrators attacked U.N. and government
offices.
The violence came after the United States and Israel attacked Iran,
killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials
at a hospital in Karachi said that at least 50 people were also wounded
in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his “profound sorrow over the
martyrdom" of Khamenei and conveyed his condolences to Iran, according
to his office. He said: “Pakistan stands with the Iranian nation in this
moment of grief and shares in their loss.”
Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city's main government
hospital, confirmed six bodies and multiple injured people were brought
to the facility. However, she said the death toll rose to 10 after four
critically wounded people died.
In addition, 12 people were killed and over 80 wounded in clashes with
police in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region when thousands of
protesters angered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran attacked the
offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group and the U.N. Development
Programme (UNDP), local police official Asghar Ali said.
A government spokesman, Shabir Mir, said all staff working for those
organizations was safe. He said protesters repeatedly clashed with
police at various places in the region, damaged the offices of a local
charity, and set fire to police offices. However, he said authorities
had deployed troops and brought the situation under control.
The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said in a post on X that it was monitoring
reports of ongoing demonstrations at the U.S. Consulates General in
Karachi and Lahore, as well as calls for additional protests at the U.S.
Embassy in Islamabad and the consulate general in Peshawar.
It advised U.S. citizens in Pakistan to monitor local news, stay aware
of their surroundings, avoid large crowds and keep their travel
registration with the U.S. government up to date.
U. S. Consulate windows smashed
In Karachi, which is the capital of southern Sindh province and
Pakistan’s largest city, senior police official Irfan Baloch said that
protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. Consulate, but
were later dispersed.
He dismissed reports that any part of the consulate building was set on
fire. However, he said that protesters torched a nearby police post and
smashed windows of the consulate before security forces arrived and
regained control.
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Shiite Muslims set a fire at the U.S. Consulate's entrance gate
during a rally to condemn the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, March 1, 2026.
(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Protests in the area surrounding the consulate went on for hours,
with dozens of youth, some covering their faces, throwing stones at
law enforcement officials and vowing to reach the consulate where
hundreds of police and paramilitary officers have been deployed.
The clashes prompted Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to issue an
appeal for calm.
“Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of
Pakistan shares in the grief of the people of Iran,” Naqvi said in a
statement, but urged people not to take the law into their own hands
and to express their protests peacefully. The provincial government
of Sindh also urged citizens to express their views peacefully and
warned against engaging in violence.
Protests took place elsewhere in Pakistan
In Islamabad, police fired tear gas and swung batons as hundreds of
protesters, angered by the killing of Khamenei, tried to march
toward the U.S. Embassy. The clashes took place outside the city's
diplomatic enclave, where the embassy is located, and additional
police had been deployed.
Meanwhile, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, authorities also
used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of demonstrators
attempting to approach the U.S. Consulate to hold a rally and to
denounce the killing of the Iranian leader, police said.
Protesters also held a peaceful rally in Multan, a city in Punjab
province, chanting slogans against Israel and the United States.
Mamoona Sherazi, who attended the rally, said that she was
protesting Khamenei's killing. “God willing, we will never bow
before America and Israel,” she said.
Protesters also rallied and clashed with police repeatedly near the
U.S. Consulate in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province,
police said. Authorities said that the government has stepped up
security around the U.S. Embassy in the capital, and consulates
across the country to avoid any further violence.
___
Munir Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in
Peshawar, Pakistan, Babar Dogar in Lahore, and Asim Tanveer in
Multan, contributed to this story.
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