US$2.34m frees CIA contractor
Source: Agencies |
March 17, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A CIA contractor who shot and killed two Pakistani men was freed from prison yesterday after the United States paid US$2.34 million in "blood money" to the victims' families, Pakistani officials said, defusing a dispute that had strained ties between Washington and Islamabad.
In what appeared to be a choreographed end to the diplomatic crisis, the US Embassy said the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the killings on January 27 by Raymond Allen Davis. It thanked the families for "their generosity" in pardoning Davis, but did not mention any money changing hands.
Davis left the country immediately on a US flight, officials said.
The killings and detention of Davis triggered a fresh wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and were testing an alliance seen as key to defeating al-Qaida and ending the war in Afghanistan.
Antagonism was especially sharp between the CIA and Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence, which says it did not know Davis was operating in the country.
Davis, 36, claimed he acted in self-defense when he killed the two men in Lahore. US officials first described him as either a US consular or embassy official, but later admitted he was working for the CIA.
In what appeared to be a choreographed end to the diplomatic crisis, the US Embassy said the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the killings on January 27 by Raymond Allen Davis. It thanked the families for "their generosity" in pardoning Davis, but did not mention any money changing hands.
Davis left the country immediately on a US flight, officials said.
The killings and detention of Davis triggered a fresh wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and were testing an alliance seen as key to defeating al-Qaida and ending the war in Afghanistan.
Antagonism was especially sharp between the CIA and Pakistan's powerful Inter Services Intelligence, which says it did not know Davis was operating in the country.
Davis, 36, claimed he acted in self-defense when he killed the two men in Lahore. US officials first described him as either a US consular or embassy official, but later admitted he was working for the CIA.
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