Friday, September 21, 2012

Two killed in anti-Islam film protests

A policeman was shot dead on Friday, bringing to two the number killed during a day of protests condemning an anti-Islam film, officials said. The policeman was killed and two others wounded in an exchange of fire with protesters in Karachi, police official Mohammad Shakeel said. Thousands took to the streets in Karachi to condemn the anti-Islam film". A driver for a local television station died after being shot in the northwestern city of Peshawar earlier on Friday. 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 fired off tear gas shells and fired into the air to disperse the crowd, but three policemen were wounded by gunfire from an unknown direction, Shakeel said. "They were shifted to hospital where one of our constables died," he added. In the northwestern city of Peshawar, a TV station employee also died Friday after being shot when protesters set alight and ransacked a cinema. "He was shot in the chest. He was put on a ventilator after surgery but could not survive," said Doctor Mukhtar Khan, head of the Lady Reading Hospital. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had ordered an investigation into the man's death and repeated government calls for protests to remain peaceful.

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