A bomber has detonated an explosive outside the US embassy in Beijing, officials have confirmed.

Photos posted on Twitter show a large amount of smoke and what appear to be police vehicles surrounding the vast building in the northeast of the Chinese capital.

In a statement, the US embassy said: "There was an explosion at approximately 1pm today on the street outside the South East corner of the embassy compound.

"According to the embassy’s regional security officer, there was one individual who detonated a bomb.

"Other than the bomber, no other people were injured and there was no damage to embassy property. The local police responded."

According to police, the man injured his hand in the explosion.

He has been named as Jiang, a 26-year-old from Mongolia and has been taken to hospital for treatment.

A witness spoke to by the Reuters news agency and said they have seen officers examining a vehicle outside the embassy.

Another witness said seven or eight police vehicles were at the scene and the road next to the large complex has been closed off.

The Irish embassy in Beijing said it was aware of reports of the incident and was monitoring the situation closely.

The Embassy is aware of media reports of an incident outside the US Embassy on Tianze Lu in Beijing. No injuries have been reported. We will continue to monitor the situation closely. For any concerns, please contact the Embassy at +861085316200. @dfatravelwise

— Embassy of Ireland (@IrlEmbChina) July 26, 2018