Manama, Dec 5 : Bahrain has said that the blast in a minibus near the British embassy on Sunday in Manama was caused by an “unknown high explosive.”

“The explosion was because of an unknown type of explosive device which was placed under the front left wheel of a minibus that was parked approximately 50 meters away from the British embassy in Manama,” Bahrain’s interior ministry spokesman Lieutenant Salah Saif said.

He added that the material used in the blast was “highly explosive” because its remains were found approximately 32 meters away from the site and created a hole with a diameter of around 30 cm underneath the driver''s side of the vehicle, Xinhua reports.

According to the report, there was no casualty in the blast, and the police had cordoned off the area and launched investigations.

The interior ministry of the Gulf state said there was no doubt the blast was directed at the British mission, while the Foreign Office said it was too early to speculate on the reasons behind the attack, the Telegraph reports.

The explosion came less than a week after a mob ransacked the British embassy in Tehran, which raised tensions further between the Islamic republic and Europe, the paper said.

Meanwhile, the British embassy in Bahrain said it beefed up its security following the explosion. (ANI)