US seeks to avoid backlash from Pak shooting

WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday it will try hard to ensure there is no anti-American backlash from a shooting incident in which a US consular worker was charged with the murder of two Pakistani men.

"We want to make sure that a tragedy like this does not affect the strategic partnership that we're building with Pakistan," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"And we'll work as hard as we can to explain that to the Pakistani people," Crowley said.

In Lahore, a US consular worker was charged with the murder of two Pakistani men following American’s shooting in a busy street, a provincial minister said.

The American man told police he shot the two motorcycle riders in self-defense after they pulled a pistol on him in an attempted robbery, police officials told media.

Crowley gave few details of the event, but confirmed that an American civilian working for the US consulate in Lahore was "involved in an incident," while declining to identify the individual.

"There's a Pakistan investigation. We will cooperate fully," he said.