At Least 10 Killed as Protest at U.S. Consulate in Karachi Turns Deadly After Khamenei’s Death

Dawn broke over Karachi’s seafront on March 1 with the sound of motorcycle engines and mourning chants drifting toward Mai Kolachi Road. By 6 a.m., hundreds of protesters carrying black flags and portraits of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had converged on the blast walls of the U.S. Consulate General — and by midday, the asphalt outside was streaked with blood.

Deadly clash outside U.S. diplomatic post

What began as a largely Shia demonstration denouncing the U.S. and Israel over Khamenei’s killing in Tehran turned into one of the deadliest confrontations at an American diplomatic post in Pakistan in years. Pakistani police and paramilitary forces opened fire after some protesters tried to breach the consulate’s outer security cordon, leaving at least 10 people dead and more than 60 wounded, according to hospital officials and media tallies.

No American personnel were killed, and the fortified compound on Mai Kolachi Road was not overrun. But the clash exposed the volatile mix of grief, sectarian politics and deep-rooted anti-American sentiment that has rippled through Pakistan since Khamenei’s death — and underscored the pressure on Islamabad as it tries to balance ties with both Washington and Tehran.

Authorities and witnesses said the crowd outside the consulate swelled into the hundreds in the early morning hours after calls for nationwide protests by Shia groups, who make up an estimated 10% to 20% of Pakistan’s population. Many arrived on motorcycles, waving pictures of Khamenei and banners condemning the United States and Israel over the Feb. 28 strike in Tehran that killed the 86-year-old cleric.

“We don’t need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the U.S.,” one protester told reporters at the scene. “Our government and our forces are supporting the USA.”

Tear gas, fire — then live rounds

Sindh provincial police and Pakistan Rangers, a federal paramilitary force, set up cordons around the hilltop consulate and nearby intersections. Traffic police shut key approaches, diverting vehicles from Jinnah Bridge onto alternate routes and forcing U-turns near the busy Boat Basin commercial area, creating gridlock across Karachi’s central arteries.

As the crowd pushed closer to the compound, officers first fired tear gas and used batons to drive back protesters, witnesses said. At some point in the standoff, a group of demonstrators broke through outer barriers, damaging security installations and setting several motorcycles and a nearby traffic police post on fire. Local reports said at least one protester fired a pistol toward security forces, although that could not be independently verified.

The situation deteriorated rapidly.

Videos circulated on local television and social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising near the consulate, the crack of gunfire echoing over the roadway and people scrambling to carry the wounded to ambulances. Rescue workers from the Edhi Foundation and government-run services later described finding bodies on the pavement and dozens of injured protesters with gunshot wounds, baton injuries and the effects of tear gas.

Doctors at Civil Hospital Karachi and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre initially reported nine people dead from gunshot wounds and nearly 20 injured. As the day went on and more casualties were counted, media outlets and officials adjusted the toll upward, describing at least 10 killed and more than 60 injured in Karachi alone. Nationally, including unrest in the capital, Islamabad, and in the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan, the death toll reached about 22, with more than 120 injured.

Pakistani officials said security forces fired live rounds after the crowd tried to force its way toward the compound.

“The protesters entered after breaching the security cordon of the U.S. Consulate and committed vandalism,” the Sindh government said in a statement that also expressed “deep grief over the loss of lives in the clash.”

Local reporting and international wire services have consistently identified Sindh Police and Rangers as the units that opened fire. Some outlets also cited gunfire from at least one protester. The role of U.S. Marine Security Guards inside the consulate remains unclear; while military-focused commentary in the United States has credited Marines with helping prevent a breach, major news organizations have not confirmed that they fired on the demonstrators. U.S. and Pakistani officials have emphasized that the main embassy compound was not breached and that all American staff are safe.

Embassy alerts and shutdown of routine services

By late afternoon, security forces had pushed protesters away from the consulate and restored a tightened cordon around the site. Charred motorcycles and burned-out security posts marked the approach roads. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad issued a security alert noting “ongoing demonstrations at the U.S. Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore” and warning American citizens to “avoid large crowds” and “monitor local news.”

The following day, the U.S. Mission canceled all routine visa and American citizen services appointments at the embassy and consulates in Karachi and Lahore, citing the unrest.

In Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi appealed for calm as images of the Karachi violence and related protests in other cities spread across television channels and mobile phones.

“I urge the citizens to refrain from taking the law into their own hands and to express their protest in a peaceful manner,” Naqvi said, while announcing heightened security at diplomatic facilities and key government sites.

Regional fallout and domestic pressure

The Karachi clashes were the most visible domestic reaction in Pakistan to the strike that killed Khamenei, carried out in Tehran as part of a broader U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran’s leadership and military infrastructure. Iran’s government confirmed Khamenei’s death on March 1 and declared 40 days of mourning, with allied groups across the region promising retaliation.

In Pakistan, where one of the world’s largest Shia populations lives alongside a Sunni majority, the news resonated far beyond conventional geopolitics. For many Shia Pakistanis, Khamenei is not only a foreign leader but a religious authority and symbol of resistance, and his killing was framed in sermons and processions as the martyrdom of a revered figure.

Demonstrations and mourning processions were reported in cities including Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and the Shia-majority mountain region of Gilgit-Baltistan. In the north, protesters attacked a United Nations office and government buildings, prompting authorities to deploy troops and impose curfews in some towns. The United Nations condemned the attacks and urged Pakistan to protect its personnel and facilities.

The unrest compounded anxiety in a country already struggling with political instability and economic strain. The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell sharply amid war fears and domestic turmoil. Analysts said Islamabad’s leadership, facing pressure from Shia groups at home and a resurgent militant threat on its western border, now must navigate heightened tensions between two of its most important external partners.

Pakistan has long relied on economic and military ties with the United States and Gulf Arab states, even as surveys over the past decade have shown that most Pakistanis view Washington unfavorably. At the same time, successive Pakistani governments have cultivated relations with Iran, partly to manage shared border security and partly to respond to the sensitivities of Pakistan’s Shia minority.

President Asif Ali Zardari and federal ministers expressed condolences to Iran over Khamenei’s death while also backing security operations to protect foreign missions and restore order. Officials have said investigations are underway into the Karachi deaths, but have not yet provided a public breakdown of which units fired live rounds or under what rules of engagement.

Rights activists and lawyers in Karachi have called for an independent inquiry into the use of lethal force outside the consulate, arguing that Pakistan’s obligations under international human rights norms require strict limits on firearms in crowd control. Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, host states are responsible for protecting diplomatic premises, but that duty is balanced in practice against their responsibilities to their own citizens.

A tense calm, with more demonstrations possible

On Mai Kolachi Road, the burned barricades have been cleared and traffic has resumed, but signs of the March 1 confrontation remain. Windows in nearby buildings are still cracked from thrown stones, and some walls are blackened from small fires. Families of the dead have begun traditional mourning rituals and, in some cases, hinted at legal claims.

With Iran’s 40-day mourning period for Khamenei just beginning, religious leaders and officials in Pakistan are bracing for more commemorations — and possibly more street demonstrations. For now, the battered stretch of road outside the U.S. Consulate stands as an early marker of how a strike in Tehran has altered the security calculus, not only in Iran’s immediate neighborhood but in one of Washington’s most complicated partners.