A suspected bomb blast outside India's High Court in the heart of New Delhi killed four people Wednesday, a senior Home Ministry official told CNN-IBN channel.

Television channels said at least 24 people were wounded in the blast outside the entrance of the High Court during early court business hours.

Television images showed scores of lawyers in black coats running from one of the main gates of the building. Police cordoned off the area, not far from parliament and the prime minister's office.

U.K. Bansal, special Home Ministry secretary, said the blast was caused by a suspected bomb inside a briefcase.

Several ambulances took away the injured to a nearby government hospital. Fire trucks were also sent to the scene.

There was a bomb blast where you enter the court... there was panic everywhere. Now we are on the way to the hospital, said Kriti Uppal told CNN-IBN. It seems to be very powerful (blast). Seems to be many casualties.

In May, a low-intensity blast outside the same court triggered panic but injured no one. The blast on Wednesday was outside the busiest gate of the High Court.

Near-simultaneous triple bomb attacks in India's financial capital, Mumbai, in July killed 24 people. Police have yet to identify those behind the attacks.

Pakistani-based militants attacked Mumbai in coordinated assaults that killed 199 people in 2008, raising tensions with nuclear-armed arch rival Pakistan.

(Reporting by Paul de Bendern; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Pakistan Court India Pakistan