JOHANNESBURG • South African track star Oscar Pistorius, serving six years in jail for murdering his girlfriend, was treated in hospital for minor wrist injuries at the weekend before being returned to custody, a prison service spokesman said.

The Paralympic gold medallist, first being found guilty of culpable homicide for the 2013 Valentine's Day killing of Ms Reeva Steenkamp, saw his conviction upgraded to murder in December last year by an appeals court. His jail term was increased from five years to six in July as a result.

A spokesman for the Department of Correctional Services said yesterday Pistorius denied he had tried to kill himself.

South African prosecutors have said they will appeal against the six-year term, which they called "shockingly lenient".

Newspaper City Press earlier said Pistorius, known as "Blade Runner" for the carbon-fibre prosthetics he wore when racing, was rushed to hospital around midday on Saturday.

It quoted a security guard as saying: "He had bad cuts on his wrists and the doctors kept wrapping bandages around them."

An inmate situated close to the hospital section told the paper that Pistorius had injured himself intentionally, and it quoted two warders with knowledge of the section as saying razor blades were found in his cell.

Asked to comment, Pistorius' family spokesman Anneliese Burgess told Reuters there would be no statement at this stage.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE