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GV EXT Ambulance men surrounding shot Turkish Ambassador Sarik Ariyak and administrating first aid (2 shots)
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CU & SV Mr. Ariyak breathing through oxygen mask while ambulance men continue to administer first aid (3 shots)
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SV PAN Mr. Ariyak being carried on stretcher to ambulance
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GV PAN Ambulance leaves
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TELERECORDING

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Background: Australian police say they have found a stolen motorcycle used by two men who shot dead the Turkish Consul-General and his bodyguard in Sydney on Wednesday (17 December). Responsibility was claimed by a group called the "Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide", in vengeance - the callers claimed - for Turkish injustice to Armenians since 1915.

SYNOPSIS: Minutes after the gunmen fatally wounded Consul-General Sarik Ariyak, paramedics arrived to help. The attack happened in a quiet suburban street and residents said it took less than a minute. Eyewitnesses said the two assailants arrived on a motorcycle as Mr. Ariyak was leaving for work. His bodyguard, Engin Sever, was waiting in the street in an official consular car. The witnesses said the pillion rider fired a volley of shots from an automatic pistol through the window of the bodyguard's car. He was fatally wounded. The gunman then ran back and shot Mr. Ariyak before leaping on the motorcycle an speeding off. Mr. Sever slumped over the wheel and the car careered down the road and hit a fence.

A woman caller to the Australian Associated Press News Agency claimed responsibility in the name of an Armenian guerrilla group. Armenians say more than a million of their people were massacred under Turkish rule during the first World War. Armenian and Turkish communities in Australia were shocked at the killings and Armenian spokesmen disassociated themselves from the attack. The Turkish embassy said the attack was an "unspeakable violation of international rules and elementary morality." Police found the motorcycle used in the attack less than a kilometre (half a mile) away. They are still searching for the weapon and the gunmen.

Police said the gunmen appeared to have been professionals who might have been flown in specially to carry out the killings. Mr. Ariyak died on his way to hospital.