The extradition of a former US military officer who, along with a retired Chilean officer, was charged in connection with the 1973 killings of two Americans, was sought by a Chilean judge on Wednesday.

Former US Navy captain Ray E. Davis and Espinoza Bravo - a retired Chilean army officer in jail for other rights abuses - were charged over the murders of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi at the start of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Judge Jorge Zepeda also "asked the country's supreme court to approve a request for extradition of this American citizen so he can be tried," Chilean judicial authorities said in a statement.

Horman, an independent journalist, and Teruggi were arrested a few days after September 11, 1973, the day of the US-backed coup that toppled president Salvador Allende and brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power.

The disappearance of the 31-year-old Horman inspired the 1982 Costa-Gavras film "Missing" starring Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon.

Teruggi, a 24-year-old student, worked for a leftist magazine aimed at US readers.

The two men, considered by the regime and the CIA to be carrying out subversive activities, were arrested and taken to the National Stadium in Santiago, where prisoners were interrogated, tortured and executed.

The charge sheet says the two men had been "the subject of a top secret investigation... led by a group of US military intelligence operatives" led by Davis, who was head of the US military mission in Chile at the time.

More than 350 cases are currently open in Chile for alleged disappearances, tortures and illegal detentions under the Pinochet regime.

Nearly 3,000 people were murdered, or kidnapped and likely killed for political reasons during Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule.

(Source:AFP)