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KARACHI : At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday as angry mobs took to the streets in several Pakistan cities after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the interior ministry told AFP.
"The death toll in the unrest after Bhutto's death is 10, mostly in Sindh province," ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said.
He said dozens of people had been wounded in the violence, which hit several cities across the country.
Four died in Karachi, four in rural Sindh province in the south and two in Lahore, he said.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard echoing around the streets of Lahore where shops and vehicles could be seen on fire.
The markets and shops immediately closed down as paramilitary patrols roamed the streets in an attempt to keep a lid on the violence, a local police officer told AFP.
Meanwhile, Pakistan paramilitary and police forces were put on the highest "red alert" level after the assassination.
"The security was already high nationwide, but we have further alerted police and paramilitary forces," ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told AFP.
"The security is at red alert level across Pakistan," he said.
Bhutto returned from exile in October, planning to contest the January 8 parliamentary election.
In the southern metropolis of Karachi police said at least 70 vehicles were burnt by protesters, including 35 trucks filled with wheat. All petrol pumps were immediately closed as knots of protesters blocked many roads.
Witnesses said that as news spread of Bhutto's assassination in a suicide attack, the streets of Karachi were clogged with traffic as panicked people tried to rush home.
The mood was tense in Bhutto's home town of Larkana where two banks were set on fire, witnesses said.
In Peshawar in the northwest police used tear gas and batons to break up angry crowds; and in the central city of Multan some protesters fired shots into the air and many shouted slogans including "Musharraf is a dog" and "Long live Bhutto."
As angry Bhutto supporters looked for a scapegoat for her death, residents in the Sindh town of Jacobabad said shops belonging to the family of interim Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro were burned down.
Portraits of Soomro were set on fire while demonstrators took to the streets, blocking roads and a railway track. The main court, banks and other buildings were also set on fire, an AFP reporter said.
Fearing renewed violence in the northwestern valley of Swat, which has been troubled by months of religious militancy, officials clamped a curfew on the picturesque region, a local official told reporters. - AFP/de
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