US pays €1.7m ‘blood money’ to free CIA man

A CIA contractor who shot and killed two Pakistani men has been freed from prison after the United States paid $2.34 million (€1.7m) in “blood money” to the victims’ families, Pakistani officials said.

The dispute had strained ties between Washington and Islamabad.

In what appeared to be carefully choreographed end to the diplomatic crisis, the US embassy said the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the killings on January 27 by CIA contractor Raymond Allen Davis. It thanked the families for “their generosity” in pardoning Davis, but did not mention any money changing hands.