2 Employees of U.S. Embassy in Haiti Killed

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two Haitian employees of the U.S. Embassy were shot and killed during a robbery Thursday, and a third employee was critically wounded, U.S. authorities said.

The employees were accosted before noon while driving to a bank in the capital to pick up pay packets for embassy workers, according to an embassy statement.

A Haitian citizen witnessed the employees “in trouble” and called U.S. authorities. Military police rushed to the scene, but the two employees were already dead, the embassy said.

“All indications are that this was a criminal act, an armed robbery with no political motivation whatsoever,” it said.

Slain were Kesnel Jean-Paul and Sandra Rigaud, both in their 20s. U.S. and Haitian authorities were searching for a suspect.

Lamartine Guerrier, an embassy driver, was to be airlifted to the United States for treatment, said Lt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the U.S. military.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide conveyed to U.S. Ambassador William L. Swing “his shock and grief and also has sent his condolences to the families of the victims,” Aristide spokesman Yvon Neptune said. “We’re in a country that’s trying to get back on track. Security hasn’t been completely re-established, whether in Port-au-Prince or other parts of the country.”

Meanwhile, about 150 Haitian refugees, most of whom had fled poverty and repression under old military regimes, flew home from Cuba on Thursday.

The United Nations arranged their return on a Cuban airliner, one of three U.N flights this week carrying Haitian refugees who fled by boat to Cuban shores.

Thousands of Haitians, reassured by Aristide’s return, are heading home from the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other Caribbean nations.