Pakistani police fire tear gas and charge protesters in Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police fired tear gas and swung batons at thousands of protesters on Sunday in Karachi after the demonstrators tried to break through a security barricade.

Around 2,000 supporters of a far-right Islamist party tried to reach the city’s press club to oppose a another demonstration staged by civil society groups about the killing of a blasphemy suspect while he was in custody.

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party hurled rocks at officers and torched a patrol car when police stopped them from reaching the press club.

The party said one of its members died in the violence. Police arrested around 20 people from both demonstrations.

Provincial Interior Minister Zia Ul Hassan said authorities feared clashes because both the political party and the civil society groups had issued calls for protests on the same day.

Ul Hassan condemned the violence, especially given an upcoming security summit in Islamabad and last week’s deadly attack on a convoy of Chinese nationals outside the city's airport.

The TLP supports Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, which call for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.

Police detain a supporter of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party burn bushes as police fire tear gas shell to disperse them during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police fire tear gas shell to disperse supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police and paramilitary soldiers chase supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police fire tear gas shell to disperse supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party burn bushes and throw stone towards police during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police and paramilitary soldiers chase supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party who setting on fire a police vehicle during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party burn bushes and throw stones towards police during clashes following protestors tried to break through a security barricade, in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police detain a supporter of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Police and paramilitary soldiers stand beside a police vehicle setting on fire by supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party during clashes in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will send a T erminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to Israel, along with the troops needed to operate it, the Pentagon said Sunday, even as Iran warned Washington to keep American military forces out of Israel.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden. He said the system will help bolster Israel's air defenses following Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October.

The delivery of the sophisticated missile defense system risks further inflaming the conflict in the Middle East despite widespread diplomatic efforts to avoid an all-out war. The Iranian warning came in a post on the social platform X long associated with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who noted the earlier reports that the U.S. was considering the deployment.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have been clashing since Oct. 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets over the border in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza. Late last month, Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon.

Israel is widely believed to be preparing a military response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack when it fired roughly 180 missiles into Israel.

In a brief exchange with reporters before leaving Florida on Sunday, Biden said he agreed to deploy the THAAD battery “to defend Israel.” Biden spoke at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa after making a quick visit to to see the damage caused by Hurricane Milton and meet with first responders, residents and local leaders.

Ryder, in his statement, said the deployment "underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”

It was not immediately clear where the THAAD battery was coming from or when it will arrive. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesman, declined to provide any timeline for its arrival, but thanked the U.S. for its support.

The U.S. deployed one of the batteries to the Middle East along with additional Patriot battalions to bolster protections for U.S. forces in the region late last year after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas militants. Ryder also said that the U.S. sent a THAAD battery to Israel in 2019 for training.

It also is not unusual for the U.S. to have a limited number of troops in Israel, which the U.S. considers a key regional ally. There generally has been a small number of forces there consistently as well as routine rotational deployments for training and exercises.

According to an April report by the Congressional Research Service, the Army has seven THAAD batteries. Generally each consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, radio and radar equipment and requires 95 soldiers to operate.

The THAAD is considered a complementary system to the Patriot, but it can defend a wider area. It can hit targets at ranges of 150 to 200 kilometers (93 to 124 miles).

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aamer Madhani in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

Iranian ballistic missile components that were fired at Israel are displayed during a government-organized media tour on a base in southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

FILE - Palestinians inspect the debris of an Iranian missile intercepted by Israel, in the West Bank city of Hebron, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)

Iranian ballistic missile components that were fired at Israel are displayed during a government-organized media tour on a base in southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

FILE - A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defense system is displayed during a Made in America showcase on the South Lawn of the White House, July 15, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)