WASHINGTON: A small apartment fire in the US capital earlier this week led firefighters to a grim discovery inside a Northwest residence, where a Pakistani American man was found dead with blunt-force and thermal injuries.

Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded at approximately 3:33am on Wednesday to a report of smoke in a hallway in the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW. Firefighters entered an apartment, extinguished a small fire, and found an adult male unconscious and not breathing.

The victim was later identified by the Metropolitan Police Department as 40-year-old Syed Hammad Hussain. Officials said he showed signs of blunt-force trauma as well as thermal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene after responders found no signs consistent with life.

The apartment is located near Logan Circle, a busy residential area about 1.1 miles northwest of the White House.

In an official statement issued on Friday, police said that following an initial assessment, the matter was referred to police and taken over by homicide detectives. As of Friday, no suspects had been identified.

Investigators are reviewing security camera footage from a neighbouring building. Sources familiar with the investigation told local media the footage shows Hussain entering the building with three other individuals, including a possible woman, shortly before the fire. The same individuals were later seen running from the building.

Authorities have appealed to the public for information and urged anyone with knowledge of the incident to contact police. The Metropolitan Police Department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

The Hussain family is from Lahore and is settled in Washington. The funeral prayer service for Hammad Hussain is scheduled for 12:30pm on Saturday at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia.