PAKISTAN: THE BODIES OF FOUR U.S. OILMEN KILLED IN A DAYLIGHT AMBUSH IN PAKISTAN ARE FLOWN HOME FOR BURIAL

Record ID: 344762

  • Title: PAKISTAN: THE BODIES OF FOUR U.S. OILMEN KILLED IN A DAYLIGHT AMBUSH IN PAKISTAN ARE FLOWN HOME FOR BURIAL
  • Date: 15th November 1997
  • Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (NOVEMBER 15, 1997) (RTV ACCESS ALL) 1. WS/LV KARACHI AIRPORT TOWER (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. TRACK AMBULANCES ARRIVE CARRYING COFFINS OF DEAD OILMEN PRIOR TO FLYING THEM HOME TO THE U.S.A. FOR BURIAL 0.41 3. SLV COFFIN CARRIED TO PLANE 0.46 4. SV MOURNING WOMAN WITH FLOWERS 0.49 5. SLV COFFINS LAID ON TARMAC 0.57 6. SCU MOURNERS 1.02 7. SLV FLOWERS LAID ON COFFINS (2 SHOTS) 1.22 8. SV MOURNING MAN 1.26 9. ZOOM IN COFFIN UP CONVEYOR INTO PLANE 1.45 10. SV CHIEF OF UNION TEXAS, PAKISTAN, ARNOLD HOFFMAN, SAYING "OUR HEARTS AND OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH OUR COLLEAGUES AND THEIR FAMILIES BACK HOME." READS LIST OF NAMES OF DECEASED. SAYS "I WANT TO EXPRESS THE DEEP GRIEF AND SYMPATHY FROM ALL THE UNION TEXAS COLLEAGUES HERE IN KARACHI AND FROM ALL OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS" (ENGLISH) 2.31 11. LV PLANE DOOR CLOSES 2.40 12. LV PLANE TAXIS 2.55 Initials S3,P3-2 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 30th November 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan ASIA
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OPD7HK3K19F8KCE37FZ6702B
  • Story Text: - INTRO: The bodies of four U.S. oilmen killed in a daylight ambush in Pakistan have been flown home for burial amid a fresh U.S. warning on travel by Americans after a Pakistani was sentenced to death for killing two CIA agents.

    The bodies were brought amid tight security to Karachi airport on Saturday (November 15) , each coffin decked with flowers, and put on board a chartered aircraft in a brief ceremony attended by friends and colleagues from U.S. oil giant Union Texas.

    "...we do not understand the death of these individuals nor do we accept it," the head of Union Texas Pakistan, Arnold Hoffman said.

    U.S. Consul-General Richard Douglas Archer said more Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were due to arrive to help their Pakistani counterparts investigate Wednesday's attack, in which the Americans' Pakistani driver was also killed.

    The ceremony was held on the eve of the arrival of U.S.

    Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and 24 hours after her department issued a new warning to Americans about possible revenge attacks after the death sentence on Mir Aimal Kasi.

    He was sentenced by a court in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday for the 1993 killings of two Central Intelligence Agency employees outside the spy agency's headquarters in a morning rush hour traffic jam.

    The bodies of the Americans were taken to the airport in a large convoy of ambulances, led and tailed by several police and U.S. consulate vehicles, witnesses said.

    Karachi police were put on high alert. "We will not take any chances this time. All possible precautions have been made to guard the foreign missions and companies," a police spokesman said.

    No group has claimed responsibility for the clinical attack which killed the five men. Police have played down speculation linking Kasi's conviction on Monday with the attack.

    Government officials have labelled it a botched attempt to sabotage Albright's visit, the first by a serving U.S. Secretary of State for 13 years, and plans for President Bill Clinton to arrive early in 1998.

    Police reported no major breakthrough in their investigations into the first attack against foreign staff of a U.S. multinational in Pakistan's troubled port city.

    "We have made a video of the place of the incident, got the sketches of the suspects, recorded the statements, recovered the car used in the attack... but I am afraid no breakthrough has been made yet," a police spokesman said.

    Witnesses said police and para-military rangers were guarding foreign missions linked to the United States and other western missions which were already under increased protection from security forces and private guards after the Wednesday killings.

    Security arrangements have also been beefed up at the officies of multi-national companies and the residences of foreigners.

    Pakistan's main Urdu-languge newspaper, Jung, said departures by U.S. citizens had increased by five percent since Wednesday's killing. There was no independent confirmation of the report.


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