The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office has demanded the extradition of a U.S. serviceman who shot dead a Kyrgyz citizen last December, the Interfax news agency reported Monday.

"The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office has completed the investigation into the murder of Alexander Ivanov, an employee of the Manas air base," Interfax quoted a statement published by the office's press service as saying.

"The main investigative department of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry that was investigating the case has sent a request to the relevant U.S. agencies demanding the extradition of Zackary Hatfield to Kyrgyz justice," the statement said.

It added that undoubted evidence showed that Hatfield, a soldier with the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing of the U.S. Air Force, was responsible for Ivanov's death and would be charged with murder under Kyrgyzstan law.

The incident occurred on Dec. 6, 2006 when Ivanov, a truck driver, was going through a security check at the entrance to the U.S. Manas Air Base near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, which supports operations in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military has said that Ivanov was fired at after he threatened Hatfield with a knife.

But Kyrgyz authorities said last week that Hatfield had exceeded the limits of self defense and murdered the man.

Some 1,500 troops from the United States and its NATO allies have been deployed at the Manas Air Base, which was set up in 2001 as part of the U.S.-led war on terror.

Source: Xinhua