Killing of four US citizens linked to Kasi trial

Meanwhile, Pakistan has launched an urgent diplomatic exercise to repair the damage caused due to the killing as President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari in a condolence message to US president Bill Clinton, assured that, “We are determined to apprehend the criminals swiftly and award them severe punishment.”

The latest killings were seen as a possible retaliation for the conviction here of Mir Aimal Kasi, a Pakistani national, on charges of shooting dead two CIA employees.

The Kasi trial concluded only on Monday and the US state department on Tuesday had issued a warning to US citizens in Pakistan about possible retaliation.

A Reuters report from Fairfax said that lawyers for Kasi asked a judge today to declare a mistrial saying jurors might be “scared to death” by the killing of the four Americans in Pakistan.

But Fairfax county circuit court judge JH Brown denied the motion. He said he had been watching the 12-member jury and detected no sign that they knew about the drive-by shooting in Karachi or were shaken by it.

Our correspondent in Washington adds: The US has condemned the terrorist attack in Karachi resulting in the death of four Americans and said it would work with Pakistani law enforcement authorities to catch the perpetrators of the crime.

“We obviously condemn the attack. We have no idea yet who the killers or what their motive is, a state department official said in first reactions to the killing. The offices reopened today after a federal holiday on Tuesday and a more detailed reaction is expected later after officials emerge from the morning huddle.

Incidentally, the terrorist strike came barely four days ahead of Secretary of State Madeliene Albright’s scheduled visit to Pakistan from November 16. Officials, however, said as of now there was no change in her travel plans.