A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Thursday acquitted five people in the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and declared ex-military leader Pervez Musharraf an "absconder", state Pakistan Television reported.

Bhutto died in a suicide and gun attack in 2007, weeks after she returned from exile to campaign in elections to bring back civilian rule after Musharraf's eight-year military regime.

Musharraf was charged in 2013 of being culpable in Bhutto's murder. He is now in self-imposed exile, having been allowed to leave the country in March 2016 for health reasons while awaiting trial.

As an absconder, Musharraf legally must be arrested and brought to trial if he returns to Pakistan.