REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MALE -- A remote-controlled bomb was discovered near the presidential palace in the politically charged Maldivian capital on Monday, but the improvised explosive device was safely defused, the military said.

Panic gripped the tiny capital as police cordoned off narrow streets and troops stepped up their presence amid heightened tensions following a blast aboard the president's speed boat in September.

But the Maldivian foreign ministry tried to defuse tension in Male by saying on Twitter: "State of Emergency NOT declared in Maldives."

The Maldivian National defence Force (MNDF) said it disabled the improvised explosive device planted near the presidential palace after evacuating residents and bystanders.

"The device was placed on the battery pack of a white truck parked on the north side of Muliaage (presidential palace)," MNDF spokesman Ali Ihsaan told reporters at a late night press conference in Male.

No one has claimed responsibility for planting the bomb and so far no one has been arrested, the spokesman said, though an investigation has been launched.

The discovery came a day after the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) discounted Maldivian claims of an attempt to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen by setting off an IED aboard his speed boat in September.

Yameen was unharmed, but his wife and two others were slightly wounded.

However, President Yameen ordered a major shake-up of his security and sacked several of his ministers, while his Vice President Ahmed Adeeb was arrested in connection with the blast.

The atoll nation of 1,192 coral islands has a population of just 340,000, but welcomes more than a million foreign tourists annually.

The Maldives' image as a peaceful luxury holiday destination has, however, been dented by political unrest in recent years.

Yameen faces tough international criticism over the jailing in March of its first democratically elected leader Mohamed Nasheed, after a rushed trial which the UN said was seriously flawed.

Yameen, who came to power in November 2013 following a controversial election, faces international censure over his crackdown on supporters of opposition leader Nasheed and other opponents of his regime.

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