Taliban bombs in Pakistan on Wednesday killed 12 people and wounded 14 others, including a senior judge seriously injured in the business capital Karachi, AFP quoted officials as saying.

Taliban bombs in Pakistan on Wednesday killed 12 people and wounded 14 others, including a senior judge seriously injured in the business capital Karachi, AFP quoted officials as saying.

Judge Maqbool Baqir, who has worked on a series of terrorism cases, was targeted by a bomb that killed at least nine people on a busy street during the morning rush hour.

Baqir had been threatened by militants, including extremist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has claimed a series of devastating bomb attacks on civilians.

The bomb, planted on a motorbike, exploded as Baqir drove past with his security detail in Burns Road in the centre of the city.

At least nine people, including eight members of the judge's security detail, were killed and 14 other people wounded.

“The dead include six police officers, two (paramilitary) Rangers and the judge's driver," police official Ameer Sheikh told AFP.

Baqir was taken to hospital with critical injuries, but was said to be out of danger by early evening.

"He received threats from the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Other militants had also threatened him," Sheikh said.

Baqir has worked on several cases involving militants, serving as a judge in special anti-terrorism courts set up in Pakistan to hand down quick judgments in terror cases.

Police said six kilogrammes of explosives were used to detonate the bomb, planted on a motorcycle.