The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has been injured in a suspected bomb blast in the capital, Male, writes BBC.

The blast happened as he was about to get into a car outside his home on Thursday evening.

Local media reports a home-made explosive device was planted on a motorbike that was parked nearby.

A team from the Australian Federal Police force will travel to the Maldives to help in the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and has been an outspoken critic of hardline Islamists. He won multi-party elections in 2008 but was ousted in a coup four years later. Nasheed is currently serving as the speaker in parliament.