At least 22 people were killed and more than 120 others were injured in violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan on Sunday. The violence took place in the southern port city of Karachi and in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region after demonstrators supporting the Iranian government attempted to storm the U.S. Consulate.

According to authorities, the protests erupted after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The news of his killing led to large-scale protests across different parts of Pakistan.

In Karachi, which is the capital of Sindh province and Pakistan’s largest city, senior police official Irfan Baloch said protesters briefly attacked the perimeter of the U.S. Consulate. He said security forces later dispersed them. He dismissed reports that the consulate building had been set on fire and described such claims as baseless. However, he confirmed that protesters torched a nearby police post and smashed windows of the consulate before security forces regained control of the area.

Police and hospital officials in Karachi said at least 50 people were wounded in the clashes in the city, some of them in critical condition. Summaiya Syed Tariq, a police surgeon at the city’s main government hospital, confirmed that six bodies and multiple injured people were brought to the facility. She later said the death toll at the hospital rose to 10 after four critically wounded people died.

In northern Pakistan, the situation was also tense. In the Gilgit-Baltistan region, twelve people were killed and over 80 were wounded when thousands of Shiite protesters attacked the offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Local police official Asghar Ali said the protesters were angered by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Government spokesman Shabir Mir said that all staff working for those organisations were safe. He added that protesters repeatedly clashed with police at different locations in the region. He said they damaged the office of a local charity and set fire to police offices. However, he said authorities had deployed troops and brought the situation under control.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his “profound sorrow over the martyrdom” of Khamenei and conveyed 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.”

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also issued a statement following the clashes. He said, “Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan shares in the grief of the people of Iran.” He described the day as “a day of mourning for the Muslim Ummah and for the people of both Iran and Pakistan,” but urged citizens not to take the law into their own hands and to express their protests peacefully.

The provincial government of Sindh also appealed to citizens to remain peaceful and warned against violence.

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said in a post on X that it was monitoring reports of ongoing demonstrations at the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi and Lahore. It also noted calls for additional protests at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and the Consulate General in Peshawar. The embassy 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 updated.

In Islamabad, police used tear gas and batons to stop hundreds of Shiite protesters who were trying to march toward the U.S. Embassy. The clashes happened outside the Diplomatic Enclave, where additional police had been deployed.

In Peshawar, authorities also used tear gas and batons to disperse thousands of demonstrators attempting to approach the U.S. Consulate. Police said the protesters wanted to hold a rally to denounce the killing of Khamenei.

In Lahore, police reported rallies and repeated clashes near the U.S. Consulate. Authorities said security had been increased around the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and consulates across the country to prevent further violence.

In Multan, Shiites held a peaceful rally, chanting slogans against Israel and the United States. Mamoona Sherazi, who attended the rally, said she was protesting Khamenei’s killing. She described him as a fatherly figure and a strong voice for Shiites and said he also supported Sunni Muslims facing oppression. “God willing, we will never bow before America and Israel,” she said.

Witnesses in Karachi said dozens of Shiite protesters remained gathered about a kilometre from the consulate, urging others to join them. They said one protester tried to burn a consulate window before security forces arrived and dispersed the crowd.

Shiites make up about 15% of Pakistan’s population of around 250 million people and are among the largest Shiite communities in the world. While they have held anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rallies in the past, clashes of this scale are rare.