15 killed, 219 hurt in Pakistan protests

At least 15 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Pakistan during violent protests yesterday condemning a US-made film insulting Islam, defying a government call for only peaceful demonstrations, officials said. Ten people were killed in Karachi, the country’s largest city, and five in the northwestern city of Peshawar, hospital officials said. The combined total of wounded in Karachi, Peshawar and in the capital Islamabad was 219. A doctor at Karachi’s Jinnah hospital said they had received five dead and 65 people with injuries, while the city’s Civil hospital said it had also had five bodies, including that of a police officer, and at least 40 injured. The policeman was killed in an exchange of fire with protesters in Karachi, the country’s largest city, police official Mohammad Shakeel said. Thousands took to the streets in a series of demonstrations across Karachi, home to an estimated 18 million, to condemn the film, Innocence of Muslims. Scuffles broke out when protesters tried to march towards the US consulate, throwing stones at police and trying to remove shipping containers that blocked the road, police said. Officers launched tear gas shells and fired into the...