A bomb squad has destroyed a pressure cooker found in a "suspicious" car left unattended near the US Capitol building in Washington.
Police Lieutenant Kimberly Schneider told The Associated Press that Capitol Police officers on patrol spotted the parked, unoccupied vehicle on a street on the mall west of the Capitol at 5pm on Sunday.
"Further investigation revealed a pressure cooker, and an odour of gasoline was detected," Schneider said, adding a Capitol Police bomb squad was called in because the vehicle was "suspicious in nature".
She said the squad known as the Hazardous Devices Section destroyed "items of concern in the vehicle including the pressure cooker" at about 7:45pm after temporarily closing off the area on a busy holiday weekend.
She did not immediately identify the other items but said only that "this safe disruption produced a loud 'bang'".
Asked if the "disruption" involved experts detonating those items, she said that was accurate. She said follow-up searching of the vehicle detected "nothing hazardous".
She said the bomb squad intervention came after authorities had set up a security perimeter around the site on 3rd Street in the US capital.
She said the vehicle owner was located and her statement identified him as Israel Shimeles of the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. The statement said Shimeles was arrested by Capitol Police and charged with "Operating After Revocation".
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