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9 killed in pro-Iran protest at US consulate in Pakistan's Karachi / Photo: Asif HASSAN - AFP
9 killed in pro-Iran protest at US consulate in Pakistan's Karachi
At least nine people were killed during pro-Iran protests at the United States consulate in the Pakistan megacity of Karachi on Sunday, according to a hospital toll seen by AFP.
Hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters tried to storm the consulate following the US-Israel strikes on Iran, an AFP journalist saw.
Nine people died from gunshot wounds, according to the hospital record, while a rescue service spokesman said 20 others were wounded.
AFP journalists said clashes between police and protesters were still ongoing outside the consulate at 3:00 pm local time (1000 GMT).
"We don't need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US," a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.
"Our government and our forces are supporting the USA."
The protesters chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.
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.
In a video circulating on social media, a young demonstrator could be heard saying: "We need to remain united. No power can stop us."
"We are setting the American consulate in Karachi on fire. God willing, we are avenging the killing of our leader," another protester said as he filmed others trying to start a blaze.
- American 'stooges' -
Elsewhere in Pakistan, 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.
P.Graham--SMC
