"It was just an accident caused by short-circuiting and nothing else," -- Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
"We haven't found any evidence that would suggest that it was an act of sabotage. The evidence indicates the blast was caused by short-circuiting. At the moment we rule out the possibility of any act of terrorism." -- Brigadier Javed Cheema (Interior Ministry National Crisis Management Unit), to AFP
[Cause could have been an "air vacuum"] "If your room is virtually airtight, even if one electricity bulb bursts, it produces a big sound. These buildings are under high pressure so hence the bang was created." -- Brigadier Cheema (to BBC?)
Martians! Yeah, that's it, musta been Martians. Either that, or flatulence. Those airtight rooms and spicy food, y'know. Really hazardous!
The US believes an improvised bomb and not an electrical short circuit, as Pakistani officials have said, caused a blast that wounded several people at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, a US State Department risk analysis unit said on Friday. The department itself declined to comment on the cause of the explosion, saying it remained under investigation by Pakistani authorities, but the US Embassy in Islamabad warned Americans to stay away from the vicinity of the luxury hotel. But the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), a State Department-run clearing house for international security information, said a homemade bomb was responsible for the explosion that caused extensive damage to the front entrance of the hotel and resulted in injuries. "An improvised explosive device bombing occurred at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan," OSAC said in a notice to its constituents, generally large US-based multinational firms and relief agencies. The notice offered no other details about Thursday's blast that shattered virtually every window on the ground floor of the hotel and wounded at least seven people, including three Italian businessmen and a US diplomat who suffered minor cuts from flying glass. A senior State Department official would not speak to the accuracy of the OSAC assessment but said Washington was not convinced by the Pakistani explanation.