Davis hurdle hampered US effort to protect Bhatti

The Obama administration,concerned for the safety of the Pakistani official who was assassinated on Wednesday,tried in the weeks before his killing to secure an armored car and beef up protection for him,a US official said late Thursday.

Last month Shahbaz Bhatti told the State Department that his opposition to blasphemy laws had brought death threats,said Leonard A Leo,chairman of US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The effort by the State Department to provide an armoured car became mired in bureaucratic detail and was hindered by strained relations between Pakistan and the US caused by the arrest in January of a CIA contractor accused of murdering two Pakistanis,Leo said.