Pakistani authorities deployed troops and imposed a three-day curfew before dawn Monday in the northern cities of Gilgit and Skardu after several people died and tens were injured in violent protests following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, officials said.
Thousands of Shia demonstrators attacked on Sunday the offices of the UN Military Observer Group, which monitors the ceasefire along the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and the UN Development Programme in Skardu city.
Protesters also burned a police station and damaged a school and the offices of a local charity in Gilgit, according to officials.
The death toll has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on Monday.
At least 10 deaths were reported, and over 70 were injured, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said, while a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.
In Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said. Two more people were killed as thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .
At least 12 people were killed and 80 others injured, according to police in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that protesters became violent near the UNMOGIP Field Station, which was vandalised. "The safety and security of U.N. personnel and premises throughout the region remain our top priority, and we continue to closely monitor the situation," Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, Shabir Mir, a Gilgit-Baltistan government spokesman, said Monday the situation was under control and that the curfew would remain in place until Wednesday. Police chief Akbar Nasir Khan urged residents to stay indoors, citing "deteriorating law and order conditions."
Demonstrators in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi stormed the US Consulate on Sunday, smashing windows and attempting to burn the building. Police responded with batons, tear gas, and gunfire, leaving 10 people dead and more than 50 injured.
One person was also killed in clashes in Islamabad during an attempted Shia march toward the US Embassy.
The US Embassy and its consulates in Karachi and Lahore cancelled visa appointments and American Citizen Services on Monday, citing security concerns. Pakistani authorities have beefed up security at US diplomatic missions across the country, including around the US consulate building in Peshawar, to avoid any further violence.
Anger has been rising in Pakistan, particularly among members of the Shia minority, following US and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Khamenei and other senior officials. While Shias are a minority nationwide, they form a majority in some northern districts and in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan.
Sunday's unrest came amid ongoing cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which began Thursday after Afghanistan launched attacks in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday. Pakistan has since carried out repeated operations along the border.