Raymond Davis remand extended 8 days

Police say investigation not yet complete, US wants immediate release of the accused.

LAHORE: Raymond Davis, the American who killed two Pakistani men in Lahore last week, will be held for eight more days to allow for further investigation, a prosecutor said on Thursday, despite US statements that he enjoys diplomatic immunity.

Amid tight security, police brought Davis in an armoured car to appear before a magistrate in Lahore on Thursday. Journalists were barred from the court proceedings.

"The police officials told the court that investigations have not yet completed. The judge extended the remand (detention) for eight more days," Abdul Samad, a deputy prosecutor general at the high court told Reuters.

Davis was arrested a week ago after shooting dead two Pakistanis in Lahore in what Davis says was an act of self-defence during an attempted robbery.

Davis told the court on Friday that he opened fire on two motorcyclists in self-defence, fearing that they were about to rob him. The two men later died in the hospital.

A third Pakistani was run down and killed when US personnel in an consulate SUV apparently tried to rescue Davis, police said.

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday barred the government from handing him over to Washington, saying it would decide whether he has diplomatic immunity or not.

After first identifying the man as a staff member of the US consulate in Lahore, the embassy on Saturday described him as a diplomat and said he had been unlawfully detained.

Arresting a diplomat is a violation of international norms and the Vienna Conventions, it said.

Interior minister Rehman Malik told the Senate on Wednesday that Davis holds a diplomatic passport but maintained that his case would be settled by the court.

The third death

Davis has reportedly shared information about his colleagues who ran over a person after the shooting and managed to get away.

Sources told Express 24/7 that the team investigating Davis has demanded that the US Consulate hand over the four people to them. The team has also demanded possession of the vehicle which ran over a third Pakistani at Qurtaba Chowk right after the incident.

The vehicle that ran over the victim is reportedly parked inside the consulate.