At least nine people have been killed and 45 injured in an explosion outside the high court in the Indian capital, Delhi, officials say.

印度官员称，位于首都德里的高等法院外发生一起爆炸案，至少9人死亡、45人受伤。

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A bomb was said to have been placed in a briefcase outside a main gate to the court
The blast took place outside one of the main gates leading to the reception of the busy high court.

The explosion was caused by "at least a medium-intensity bomb", home ministry² official UK Bansal said.

A minor³ blast happened outside the same court in June when a bomb exploded inside a car. There were no casualties.

The latest explosion occurred around 10:17 local time (04:47 GMT).

Home Secretary RK Singh told the CNN-IBN news channel that the blast killed nine people and wounded 45 others.

"The bomb was apparently⁴ placed in a briefcase next to the reception at one of the main gates of the court," Special Police Commissioner⁵ Dharmendra Kumar told reporters.

News channels showed ambulances taking away a number of people who appeared to be severely⁶ injured.

Kirti Uppal, an eyewitness⁷, told CNN-IBN that the blast happened in front of a reception area which issues passes for entry into the court.

"It sounded like a very powerful explosion. There is panic everywhere. We have taken a lot of injured to the hospital," he said.

An unnamed lawyer outside the court said he heard a "deafening⁸ sound and saw a lot of smoke" when he was parking his car.

"There were a lot of people in a queue for passes at the gate. I saw blood on the road, I saw body parts," he said.

In July, 26 people died in three explosions in the country's financial capital, Mumbai.

Mumbai is now on a state of high alert, the police control room has told the BBC.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder, in Delhi, says the area was crowded with lawyers and witnesses because Wednesday is the day when most public-interest litigation（诉讼） is heard at the high court.

Forensic⁹ experts are now collecting debris¹⁰ to analyse but there has been no word from police on who they suspect might be behind the attack, our correspondent adds.