One person has been killed and three others wounded after a car exploded near the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday.

Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister Zhenish Razakov said the explosion in the country’s capital of Bishkek was caused by a suicide bomber who rammed their car into the gates of the Chinese embassy, Interfax news agency reported.

The action detonated the bomb and killed the driver of the car while injuring three embassy employees, he said.

Local reports claim the vehicle managed to smash through the embassy’s gates and explode close to the ambassador’s residence in the centre of the compound, the BBC reported.

Pictures posted on social media showed smoke billowing from the ground near the compound and fragments of concrete on the floor by the embassy’s gate.