Pakistani executed for CIA killings

JARRATT, Va. -- A Pakistani who killed two CIA employees in a 1993 shooting rampage outside the spy agency's headquarters was executed Thursday as the State Department warned of global retaliation against Americans.

Aimal Khan Kasi, 38, died by injection at the Greensville Correctional Center at 9:07 EST.

"There is no God but Allah," Kasi said, softly chanting in his native tongue until he lost consciousness.

Hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal and Gov. Mark R. Warner denied a request for clemency, saying Kasi has "shown absolutely no remorse for his actions."

Kasi killed CIA communications worker Frank Darling, 28, and CIA analyst and physician Lansing Bennett, 66, as they sat in their cars at a stoplight in McLean. Three other men -- an engineer, an AT&T employee and a CIA analyst -- were wounded as Kasi walked along a row of stopped cars, shooting into them with a semiautomatic AK-47 rifle.

He fled the country and spent most of the next 4 1/2 years hiding in and around the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. He was caught in a hotel while visiting Pakistan and was returned to the United States.

Angry over CIAmeddling

Kasi confessed to the slayings during the return flight, saying he was angry over CIA meddling in Muslim nations.

Security around Greensville was greatly increased, according to a prison source, but not visibly. The only evidence of increased security was two correctional officers with shotguns standing on each side of the road near the prison entrance, and several officers with sidearms in front of the prison.

The execution drew heavy media coverage with a dozen television satellite trucks in the prison parking lot more than three hours before the execution.

Kasi spent the day in a cell only a few feet from Virginia's death chamber. He met with two of his brothers, his attorneys and his spiritual adviser, corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said. The visit with family members was allowed to be a contact visit so Kasi and his brothers could embrace during their final meetings.

No family members of the victims attended the execution.

Charles R. Burke, one of Kasi's defense attorneys, said his client had remained calm during the day. Burke declined to say what the funeral arrangements were or when the body would be claimed.

Kasi was convicted in November 1997 as Mir Aimal Kasi, but he said that name is erroneous because of a misprint on his visa.

Some Pakistani politicians pleaded with American officials to spare Kasi's life, saying commutation could "win the hearts of millions" and help the United States in its war on terrorism.

Hundreds of religious students protested in Pakistan this week, warning Americans there that they will not be safe if Kasi was executed.