Blast in Pakistan court, serious casualties - police

QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 17 (Reuters) At least half a dozen people were seriously wounded by a blast in a courtroom in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta today, a senior police officer said.

He was unable to confirm television news reports that several people had been killed.

''The blast occured in a courtroom of a senior civil judge and six people have been severely hit,'' Quetta police chief Rahu Khan Brohi told Reuters.

Taliban leaders are widely believed to be operating from in and around Quetta, the capital of the restive province of Baluchistan, though Pakistan consistently denies their presence.

Baluchistan has also suffered from longstanding unrest due to ethnic Baluch militants fighting for greater autonomy.

Reuters BDP DB1234