JACOBABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least one person was killed Sunday when Pakistan police shot into the air as they tried to disperse several thousand anti-American demonstrators in southern Jacobabad, witnesses said.
The protesters, who had evaded a huge security cordon thrown up around the city, hurled stones, prompting paramilitary rangers and police to fire in the air and use teargas to try to break up the crowds in the town in southern Sindh province.
At least one person was killed in the demonstrations called by Islamic parties to protest the use by the United States of the local airport.
Police and witnesses said 12 people were injured, including one policeman and two who were seriously hurt. One was in a coma, hospital officials said.
``We have strict orders from the government to deal sternly with the protesters,'' Jacobabad police senior superintendent Akhtar Ali Shah told reporters.
Pakistan, as part of its pledge to offer the United States non-combat logistical support for raids on Afghanistan, has allowed U.S. forces onto two airports -- Jacobabad and remote Pasni on the Arabian Sea coast.
Some 3,000 paramilitary rangers as well as soldiers have been deployed around the town after several Muslim leaders called for a siege of the airport to protest against the U.S. military presence.
The crowds shouted ``Down with Bush dog,'' ``American graveyard -- Afghanistan,'' voicing anger against the U.S. strikes on neighboring Pakistan. (Read photo caption below)
``Hero of Islam -- Osama bin Laden,'' they shouted, referring to the Saudi-born militant who is a prime target of the U.S. strikes and has been blamed for the devastating suicide plane attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and sliced into the Pentagon in Washington.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Demonstrators hold pictures of Osama bin Laden during a rally in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2001, to protest the continuing U.S.-led strikes against targets in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez