Police carry out controlled explosion near US Embassy in London

Police in London carried out a controlled explosion Friday after finding a suspicious package near the US Embassy in the British capital, Report informs via CBS News.

They blocked off roads near the embassy compound, which sits on the south side of the Thames river in London's Nine Elms neighborhood.

"We can confirm that the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement posted online.

The embassy said in its own social media post that police had closed a road near the building out of "an abundance of caution."

Later Friday, the embassy said in a new statement that the facility was "back to normal business operations," but that all public appointments were canceled for the remainder of the day, with people scheduled to renew passports and attend other appointments told to await emails to reschedule.