Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The American accused of killing two Pakistani men isn't a diplomat, as U.S. officials have said, but rather a CIA contractor in the country doing security work, a U.S. government official said Monday.
The revelation that Raymond Davis was working for the U.S. intelligence agency when he shot two men -- one of them in the back, according to Lahore police -- is a dramatic twist in a case that has already inflamed hard-line clerics and an angry public that wants the American tried in a Pakistani court.
In protests since Davis' arrest last month, hard-line Pakistani clerics have condemned the shootings and demanded that the government not release the American.
Despite the revelation of Davis' true line of work, U.S. officials on Monday renewed their argument that he enjoys diplomatic immunity and must be released.
U.S. officials notified Pakistan that Davis had been posted to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad in January 2010, U.S. officials said. Pakistan's only recourse under international law is to order Davis out of the country, according to a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on background Monday.
"Any other form of action, including a judicial action or any other proceeding, is inconsistent with his status," the official said.
Davis was jailed January 27 after fatally shooting two men who pulled up to him on a motorcycle in a bustling Lahore neighborhood.
U.S. officials and Lahore police said Davis told them he shot the men in self-defense. Evidence showed the two men may well have been robbers, according to police who found cash and cell phones linked to a robbery reported earlier that day.
But Lahore's police chief, Aslam Tareen, has said witnesses told police that Davis kept firing, even when one of the men was running away.
"It was clear-cut murder," Tareen told reporters.
That Davis was working for the CIA as a contract employee -- his actual employer is a company called Hyperion Protective Services -- seems to explain the assortment of gear Lahore police reported finding in his rental car following his arrest.
According to a Lahore police report, Davis' car contained 9mm pistol, five ammunition magazines, two cell phones, an infrared light, a digital camera, a telescope, a long-range wireless set and a survival kit.
While acknowledging that Davis is a CIA contractor, the U.S. official said that Davis is not a case officer or paramilitary officer.
"Davis is a protective officer, someone who provides security to U.S. officials in Pakistan. Rumors to the contrary are simply wrong," the official said.
He was doing "advance work," scouting areas of Lahore at the time of the shooting, the official said. Davis' role required him to "know the environment" such as traffic patterns and areas to avoid, the official said.
Until Monday, U.S. officials had described Davis only as an employee who was attached to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and who was working at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore at the time of the shootings.
Formally, they continue to describe him only as a member of the "technical and administrative staff" of the embassy.
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