Bhutto Vows to Bring Order to Karachi : Pakistan: Many are skeptical government can stem lawlessness. Bodies of Americans flown home.

The bodies of two U.S. Consulate employees gunned down in Karachi’s mounting reign of terror were airlifted home Saturday as Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto vowed “firm and ruthless” measures to re-establish order.

Bhutto met in emergency session with top government and security officials in Karachi, and Information Minister Hussain Haqqani later announced stepped-up police patrols of the violence-plagued city, Pakistan’s largest. But to many, the plans appeared to fall far short of what is needed.

“There just doesn’t seem to be the political will to solve Karachi’s problems,” one Pakistani brigadier general said, not concealing his puzzlement and dissatisfaction.

Bhutto herself implied that more attacks on U.S. and other foreign envoys in the country’s trading and business center could be coming, saying, “We think that there is a deliberate plan behind targeting the diplomats.”

She blamed a “foreign hand”--shorthand in Pakistan for neighboring India--and collusion among drug barons, religious fundamentalists and extremists from rival Islamic and ethnic groups for the rising chaos that has claimed more than 500 lives in the past 3 1/2 months.

In a brief statement, U.S. Ambassador John C. Monjo sought both to reassure and caution the approximately 3,000 Americans who live in Karachi. “We encourage all Americans living in Karachi to heighten their own security awareness and practice sound security measures,” Monjo said. “But, at this time, we still know of no specific threats to U.S. citizens, their family members or U.S. government facilities in Pakistan.”

In the early evening, a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard slowly carried two coffins into an Air Force C-141 Starlifter. The coffins, draped with U.S. flags, contained the remains of Jackie Van Landingham, 33, a consulate secretary, and communications technician Gary C. Durell, 45.

“Today we are sending Jackie and Gary home, not for a visit, but for always,” U.S. Consul General Mary Virginia Kennedy, her voice quavering, told a brief memorial service on the concrete apron at Karachi’s airport. Durell’s weeping widow, Wanna, had to be supported as she walked along a strip of red carpet toward the aircraft.

Van Landingham’s widower, Lloyd, is employed by a security contractor working for the State Department in Germany. He flew to Pakistan to recover his wife’s body and rejoin the couple’s two daughters, ages 2 and 4, whom he held tightly throughout the service.

As the “The Star-Spangled Banner” blared to conclude the memorial ceremony, Mark McCloy, who was shot in the left leg during the Wednesday morning attack on the Americans, stood with the rest, his hand on his heart.

His leg in a cast, the 31-year-old consulate mail room worker hobbled on crutches into the battleship-gray Air Force transport to fly home to be reunited with his wife.

The Americans’ remains are due to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base at 10 a.m. EST today.

Bhutto, who will make an official visit to the United States next month, did not attend the ceremony but sent the provincial governor and chief minister. Earlier in the day, she condemned the “outrageous attack of terrorism” that cost the two Americans their lives.

“When innocent people are being killed, the government has to respond in a firm and ruthless manner,” Bhutto said after meeting with provincial officials. “When ruthlessness is required, the administration will have to be ruthless.”

“Necessary measures” are now being taken to protect the lives and property of all diplomats in Karachi, Bhutto said, but she gave no specifics. At a news conference, government officials announced a series of modest steps, including increased policing of neighborhoods that had been thought safe.

Police will also beef up patrols at mosques before and after prayers, the officials said. On Friday, a bomb concealed in a motorcycle exploded outside a Shiite mosque in eastern Karachi, killing 12 people and injuring 28, many of them children.

At a funeral procession Saturday for victims of that attack, thousands of wailing mourners condemned the government, burned vehicles and fired automatic weapons.

Also Saturday, FBI agents investigated the intersection where the U.S. Consulate van was ambushed at a red light. Witnesses said Pakistani police posted 16 truckloads of armed guards and cordoned off the area as the Americans examined it with measuring tape and cameras.