PESHAWAR, Sept 21: Six people were killed and 67 others, among them 11 policemen, wounded in firing, brick-batting and arson attacks as protesters enraged over the anti-Islam film clashed with police in different areas of the provincial capital on Friday.

The protesters, some of them armed, threw petrol bombs and stones, besides firing shots at policemen. The demonstrations began early in the day, but gained momentum only after Friday prayers.

The angry mob torched three cinema houses and banks. They also ransacked several private properties, including a foreign food chain restaurant and offices of a cellular phone company. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry also came under attack.

Police and district administration had on Thursday night placed containers and barbed wires on roads leading to the cantonment, which also houses the US consulate and military installations.

The city’s Mall road was virtually in a state of undeclared curfew as soldiers holding megaphones warned pedestrians and commuters to steer clear of the place.

Police used tear-gas and batons to disperse protesters from Grand Trunk Road and Jamrud Road, which saw the day’s most troubles in Peshawar. The protesters could not succeed in reaching anywhere near the US consulate.

Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) took out processions from mosques.

Elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, protests mostly remained peaceful, except for Mardan where a mob torched a church and ransacked the building.