US Capitol building (file)
US Capitol building (file)Reuters

In a potential threat in Washington DC on Memorial Day weekend, a bomb squad on late Sunday detonated a pressure cooker discovered in a car parked near the US Capitol building. The incident does not, however, appear to be terror related.

The car's owner, Israel Shimeles of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested and charged with "operating after revocation," after alert police officers detected the potential threat in his car, US Capitol Police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider said according to The Washington Times.

Officers patrolling in the west of the capital came across the car around 5 p.m. local time on a street crossing the National Mall between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue.

Upon smelling gasoline, the officers called for a bomb disposal squad to be deployed and streets were closed off to prevent potential injuries. Around 7:45 p.m. the pressure cooker found in the car was detonated, with a loud bang being heard.

According to one source quoted by Fox News, the pressure cooker may have been part of a propane tank that was used in operating a food truck.

No negative affects were experienced at a nearby Memorial Day concert, at which singer Gloria Estefan performed and Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Martin Dempsey both took part.

A Google search by Arutz Sheva points to a person named Israel Shimeles in the Bethesda area who is apparently an Ethiopian.

The pressure cooker raised great concerns particularly since the appliance has been used in numerous terrorist attacks in the past as an explosive filled with nails and other shrapnel to inflict gruesome casualties.

The most notable usage as a means of attack was seen in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, in which an attack with two pressure cookers murdered three and wounded over 260 others.