'Killer' diplomat's self-defence claim trashed by Pakistan cops

Feb 11, 2011 |

Lahore

Tags:

Raymond Davis

Pakistani police on Friday rejected the self-defence claim made by a US official who shot two men in broad daylight in a busy street late in January, saying it was a clear case of murder.

"The police investigation and forensic report show it was not self-defence," Lahore city police chief Aslam Tareen told a news conference.

"His plea has been rejected by police investigators," he said, speaking in English.

"He gave no chance to them to survive. That is why we consider it was not self-defence. We have proof it was not self-defence. It was clear murder."

The police commander in Lahore, where US official Raymond Davis was arrested on January 27 after the shooting incident that has sparked angry protests in Pakistan, confirmed that he has an American diplomatic passport.

A Pakistani court on Friday extended the American's remand by another 14 days and Tareen said one or two more reports were pending, before inquiries would be wrapped up and a report presented to court.

"It was cold-blooded murder. Eye witnesses have told police that he directly shot at them and he kept shooting even when one was running away. It was an intentional murder," Tareen reiterated.

He said no finger prints had been found on the triggers of the pistols found on the bodies of the two men and that tests showed the bullets remained in the magazine of their gun, and not the chamber.

"It has been proved that Raymond Davis committed murder," he said.

A police official previously told AFP that two pistols, magazine belts and four mobile phones, at least two of which they believe could have been stolen, were found on the bodies of the two dead Pakistanis.

The officer described one of them as a street robber "wanted" in connection with three or four incidents and the other as his accomplice.

Tareen said on Friday that the police had written "five times" to the US consulate in Lahore, requesting access to a consulate vehicle that ran over and killed a third Pakistani man in an attempt to reach Davis.

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