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Islamabad: Angry supporters of murdered Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto rampaged through cities on Friday, ransacking banks and setting cars and buildings on fire, officials said.
Paramilitary rangers have been given orders to "shoot at sight" to stop violent protesters from destroying properties, said Major Assad Ali.
At least 10 people have been killed in violence. A mob in Karachi looted three banks and set them on fire, police said.
In the central city of Multan, at least 7,000 people ransacked seven banks and a gas station and threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas.
In the capital, Islamabad, about 100 protesters burned tyres. Violent mobs also burned 10 railway stations and several trains across Bhutto's Sindh province, suspending train service between Karachi and Punjab.
In Peshawar, hundreds ransacked the office of the main pro-Musharraf party, burning furniture and stationery. The office was empty and no one was hurt.
Other areas were nearly deserted as businesses closed and public transportation came to a halt at the start of three days of national mourning for the opposition leader.
"The repercussions of her murder will continue to unfold for months, even years," read a mournful editorial in the Dawn newspaper. "What is clear is that Pakistan's political landscape will never be the same, having lost one of its finest daughters."
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