Clashes between pro-Iran demonstrators and Pakistani security forces killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 120 on Sunday after crowds attempted to overrun the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi and set fire to United Nations facilities in the country’s north, the Associated Press reported. The unrest followed the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28.
Hundreds of Shiite demonstrators gathered on Mai Kolachi Road in Pakistan’s largest city early Sunday, breaching the consulate’s outer security barrier and shattering windows before police and paramilitary Rangers forced them back, according to senior Karachi police official Irfan Baloch. He confirmed a nearby police post was set ablaze but denied reports that the consulate building itself caught fire.
Police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed Tariq told reporters that six bodies initially arrived at the city’s main government hospital, with the toll climbing to 10 as critically injured patients died.
Locals protesting stikes on Iran have stormed the entrance area of the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/fiqSoRRpPt
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 1, 2026
If you haven’t seen this angle, these are the gates leading to the interior compound of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. If they get past that point they’ll scatter, and it’ll be overrun.
That flagpole is inside of the compound. Don’t.
pic.twitter.com/1KHfcLdWrN— Ronnie Adkins (@RonnieAdkins) March 1, 2026
Separately, 12 people were killed and over 80 wounded in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region when thousands of demonstrators overran offices belonging to the UN Military Observer Group (UNMOGIP) and the UN Development Programme in Skardu and Gilgit, local police official Asghar Ali said told the Associated Press.
Rioters also torched an Army Public School, a police superintendent’s office, and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme headquarters, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Government spokesman Shabbir Mir confirmed all UN personnel were safe and said the army had imposed a curfew to restore order.
The U.S. Embassy canceled all visa and citizen services appointments for March 2 and urged Americans to avoid large gatherings. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called for calm while acknowledging the nation’s grief over Khamenei’s death.
The violence followed days of heightened U.S. naval activity in the Gulf ahead of the Iran operation.
