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ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday contradicted a statement by the US State Department that Thursday's explosion in Marriot Hotel was not due to a short circuit.
He said it was not desirable to jump to the conclusion before investigations were completed. Talking to reporters, he said initial investigations conducted by security agencies maintained that the explosion had not been caused by a bomb but was due to electrical short circuit.
When a reporter drew the attention of the minister to the assertion of the State Department that hotel lights at the main gate had remained in order after the explosion, Sheikh Rashid said the hotel management had installed an independent system of circuit-breakers and that's why the lights at the main gate remained on.
However, he pointed out that there was no light in the hotel lobby after the explosion. The information minister categorically ruled out the possibility of a terrorist act, adding it was a sheer accident. He said agencies were engaged investigating the incident from all dimensions and angles and would submit the report to the government soon.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Interior Dr Shahzad Waseem told the Senate that "no casualty has been reported so far. Seven persons, including two Italian nationals, were injured in this incident with one local serious among them". "It was not a bomb blast as no material of explosive was found from the place of occurrence," he said.
US UNCONVINCED: Earlier, a US State Department risk analysis unit said in Washington it believed that the blast was caused by an 'improvised bomb' and not a short circuit.
The State Department itself declined to comment on the cause of the explosion, saying it remained under investigation by the Pakistani authorities, but the US embassy in Islamabad warned Americans to stay away from the vicinity of the hotel.
But the Overseas Security Advisory Council, a State Department-run clearing house for international security information, said a home made bomb was responsible for the explosion.
"An improvised explosive device bombing occurred at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan," the OSAC said in a notice to its constituents, generally large US-based multinational firms and relief agencies.
Mohammad Asghar and Munawar Azeem add from Islamabad: Investigators on Friday sent the amputated leg of one of the wounded, hotel security guard Mubashir Hussain, to a laboratory for its chemical examination to determine what had caused the explosion.
A source, quoting one of the injured, said the security staff had spotted an abandoned laptop which went off when they tried to check it. However, police denied that. A witness said a man was being frisked by security personnel at the hotel's entrance when the explosion occurred.
A fire brigade official told Dawn that firemen did not find traces of any blaze when they arrived at the scene within five minutes of the blast. Lights in the hotel lobby, where the blast had occurred, were on when they reached there, he said.
"A blast had occurred there and there was no short-circuiting. Had there been any short-circuiting, it must have caused a fire. But there were no traces of any fire," the official maintained.
A three-member police team, including DSP Ishaq Warraich, was constituted to investigate the incident. SP Investigation Ehsan Sadiq said that a report had been registered at the Secretariat police station about the incident as a 'mechanical accident' because it was not a criminal act.
The report was based on the opinion of a team, comprising a bomb disposal squad official, an official of the electricity department and an explosives expert. The team was of the view that it was not a chemical explosion.
"Till the time we find a criminal act, nobody would be taken into custody for interrogation," The SP said. Up to 80 hotel guests, including some foreigners and a ruling PML party MNA, were having dinner in a restaurant of hotel when the explosion occurred at around 9.40pm, creating scare and chaos.
The blast tore off the front of the hotel situated near the Pakistan Secretariat and badly damaged the hotel lobby. After the explosion, the people trapped in the lobby were evacuated through the emergency gates and kitchen doors. The injured were taken to different hospitals.
The explosion shattered window-panes and destroyed the lobby ceiling. The injured included three foreigners, a Pakistan Army officer and Chief Security Officer of the prime minister. The injured were identified as Babar, Syed Pervez Zahoor, CSO; Mubashir Hussain, Lieutenant Farooq, Latif, Mehboob Hussain, Rubina Zafar, Attinomassih, Plabi and Martialbum.
According to a doctor, a resident of Rawalpindi, Mubashir, had suffered burn wounds, usually caused by explosive substances. The doctor said that the man's left leg was so badly injured that it had to be amputated from the knee joint. Both Rubina Zafar and Mubashir are hotel employees.
The doctors at the Federal Government Services Hospital said at least seven of the injured, including one Italian, had been brought there while three others had been taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where two of them are said to be in critical condition.
A doctor said the injured had 'lacerated wounds', usually caused by sharp glass or metal. A security source said that after the blast an official Swedish delegation due to arrive in the hotel was asked not to check in.
Meanwhile, troops beefed up security at the hotel building and the hospitals where the injured were being treated. They had also started patrolling areas around sensitive installations in the federal capital.
