US officials condemned the killing of four Americans in Pakistan yesterday but said the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, still planned to visit the country next week.
The White House described the murder of the four US executives as "outrageous barbarism" but the spokesman, Mr Michael McCurry, said US authorities had no direct evidence linking the attack to the conviction this week of a Pakistani man for a shooting spree near the CIA headquarters in 1993.
"We are working closely with the government of Pakistan to apprehend those responsible," Mr McCurry said.
Mr McCurry said the murders, committed in broad daylight in the port city of Karachi, would have no effect on planned visits to Pakistan by Ms Albright next week or President Clinton next year.
Ms Albright is scheduled to visit Pakistan, India and Bangladesh from November 16th to 20th, the first US secretary of state to visit the region since Mr George Schultz in 1983.
The attack in Karachi, in which unidentified gunmen shot dead four oil company executives and their Pakistani driver, drew charges at home that the government has failed to crack down on lawlessness. The company, Union Texas of Pakistan, said from its headquarters in Houston that it knew of no motive for the ambush.
Their deaths came two days after a Virginia court found a Pakistani national, Mir Aimal Kasi, guilty of murdering two CIA employees. The State Department had warned US nationals travelling in Pakistan after the verdict to be on alert for possible reprisals.
Two US Consulate officials were killed in Karachi in 1995 and that case remains unsolved.