Sunday began with smoke and gunfire in Karachi. By the time Pakistani authorities had declared the situation under control, at least 22 people were dead and more than 120 others wounded in some of the worst anti-American violence the country has seen in years. The trigger was thousands of miles away—US and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—but the rage landed squarely on Pakistani soil, on US consulate walls, and on United Nations offices in the country's north.
Hundreds of Shiite demonstrators descended on the US Consulate in Karachi within hours of news breaking about Khamenei's death. Some got through. A crowd of young protesters climbed the main gate and reached the consulate driveway, smashing windows before security forces pushed them back. A nearby police post was set on fire. Senior police official Irfan Baloch later told reporters that reports of the consulate building itself being torched were 'baseless,' but did not deny the breach.
