American kills three Pakistanis in Lahore

An employee of the US Consulate in this eastern Pakistani city shot and killed two men in a busy commercial area while another man died in a road accident involving a speeding car driven by the American's associate, police said.

The US national – identified as Raymond Davis, a member of the staff at the American consulate – opened fire after two armed men riding a motorcycle pulled up alongside his car at a traffic light in the Mozang area of Lahore, city police chief Aslam Tareen said. A speeding US consulate car hit two pedestrians near the scene of the shooting a short while later and one of them succumbed to his injuries in hospital, Tareen said. The car was carrying consulate staff who were heading to assist Davis, other officials said.

The accident occurred because the car went in the wrong direction on a one-way street, Tareen said. The police chief described Davis as a "technical advisor" working at the US consulate. Tareen told the media that Davis was not authorised to carry weapons in public. Davis was taken into police custody though no case was registered against him.

The police were looking for the kin of the two men killed in the shooting to register a case against Davis, Tareen said. Witnesses said police and traffic wardens caught

Davis after a brief chase. Davis's car was intercepted by two alleged robbers, Lahore Police spokesman Niyab Haider told PTI. "I opened fire in self-defence," Davis was quoted as saying by the spokesman.

Haider said a pistol was recovered from the two men who allegedly tried to rob Davis. Superintendent of Police (Operations) Umar Saeed and several witnesses too confirmed the men who intercepted theAmerican were armed. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and directed officials to take action against the US national according to international conventions, TV news channels reported.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad confirmed that Davis was a consular employee. Footage on television showed that the front windscreen of the US national's car was punctured by several bullets. The rear windscreen was shattered. Witnesses said they had seen the two armed trying to hold up the US national. They said they had then seen the American firing at the two men.

Davis took photos of the two men after they fell to the ground on being hit by bullets, the witnesses said. Davis spoke in Urdu and told people who surrounded his car that he had acted in self-defence, they said. People protested in the area after the incident and burnt tyres to block roads.