WASHINGTON: Two US citizens who worked for the CIA under contract as protective officers were quietly withdrawn from Pakistan after being involved in a fatal car accident last month while trying to help Raymond Davis, another CIA contractor being held by Pakistani authorities on murder charges.

Two officials familiar with US government activities in Pakistan said the two Americans who left the country worked for the CIA as protective officers.

This means they were employed as highly skilled bodyguards, like Davis, for CIA operations officers serving in Pakistan.

The two Americans who left Pakistan have not been otherwise identified by US or Pakistani authorities. The CIA declined to comment.

According to a translated Pakistani police statement obtained by Reuters, the two Americans got into the car crash while trying to go to the assistance of Davis, who US sources say claims he shot dead two Pakistanis on a motorcycle when they tried to rob him at gunpoint as he was driving in Lahore.

The police report says the vehicle used by the unidentified Americans, a Landcruiser belonging to the US consulate in Lahore, drove the wrong way down a one-way street.

It struck and killed a motorcyclist named Mohammad Ibadur Rehman, the report said, and “fled from the scene of the incident”.

The two US officials confirmed media reports the two men involved in the fatal accident were working and living in the same building in Lahore as Davis. They said all three men were working on similar security assignments for the CIA.

Pakistani officials and news reports have said items recovered from Davis included a telescope, a 9mm pistol and a camera containing pictures of bridges and religious schools known as madrassahs.

Current and former US national security officials familiar with the role of CIA “protective officer” contractors say it would be routine for them to do reconnaissance missions to chart safe travel routes and spot security threats.

US officials deny media reports that Davis was involved in some kind of undercover counter-terrorism operations.

They also deny reports from Pakistan suggesting that Davis' assailants had some link to the Inter-Services Intelligence.