US diplomat detained in Pakistan after his car hits two

Police in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Monday said that an American diplomat had been taken into custody after his car hit and injured two motorcyclists.

A police report said that the US diplomat, Chad Rex Ausburn, was driving a Toyota Jeep on the Constitution Avenue at Secretariat Chowk, Islamabad at around 9.40 p.m. (Pakistani time) on Sunday when he struck two motorcyclists, who were shifted to hospital immediately.

Senior police officer Najeeb ur Rehman told the media that the injured who had been sent to a local hospital were in stable condition, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said the driver was taken to a police station and would be released after the foreign ministry confirms his diplomatic position.

It is the second accident this month that US diplomats were involved in road accidents in Islamabad.

Earlier, a vehicle driven by Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall, Defence and Air Attache of the US Embassy in Islamabad, crushed to death a Pakistani motorcyclist in Islamabad on April 7.

The Islamabad High Court has instructed the government not to allow the diplomat to leave the country until his case is decided by the court.

--IANS

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