Father holds daughter captive in Sydney bomb scare - media

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A man claiming to be carrying a bomb occupied a legal office in Sydney Tuesday, holding his daughter captive in a security scare believed to be linked to a custody dispute, Australian media said.

The man, accompanied by his school-aged daughter, walked into the office in Parramatta, an outer Sydney suburb, and told a lone clerk working there that he had a bomb in his backpack, the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) said in online reports.

Police sealed off a main road outside the office, which is close to a Family Court building, and the man appeared briefly at a window, wearing a barrister's wig and without a shirt.

Police described the situation as very delicate and dangerous and declined to give details on the man's motive or say whether he was in fact carrying a bomb.

"We are still concerned about what may be contained in a backpack that he has with him," Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford told local media, noting that there was now no one else in the office except the man and the young girl.

Local media quoted the legal clerk as saying he had initially asked to see a court official.

The clerk, Betty Hor, said the man had walked into the office with a girl, who appeared to be aged about 10, in the morning and demanded to speak to "someone from the local court," The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site.

"He was meant to go to court today but he couldn't find this person, and I think he just snapped," Hor told the daily.

Hor was the only person in the office at the time.

Police indicated that negotiations with the man could stretch well into the night.

"Negotiations will continue for as long as it takes to try and end this situation peacefully," Assistant Commissioner Clifford said.

(Reporting by Mark Bendeich)