"Police are currently active on the scene and we urge the public to refrain from going to that area for the time being. We will keep updating the public," Maldives Police said in a Twitter post. 

Local media reports said that the explosion originated in a motorcycle parked close to Nasheed's car near his residence in the capital. The explosion went off as Nasheed was entering his car, injuring him as well as his bodyguard and a bystander, the Xinhua news agency reported. 

Nasheed, 53, became Maldives president in 2008 after winning the country's first multi-party elections. He became parliament speaker, the second most powerful position in the country, after his party won the elections in April 2019. 

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has strongly condemned the attack. "Cowardly attacks like these have no place in our society. My thoughts and prayers are with (former) President Nasheed and others injured in this attack, as well as their families," he said in a statement on Twitter.