Pakistan yesterday tested its longest-range missile yet, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and hitting targets deep inside neighboring India, a defense ministry official said.
The official, who did not want to be named, said the test was "100 percent successful." The official did not disclose where the test was conducted.
"It can carry both conventional and unconventional warheads," he said.
The surface-to-surface Shaheen 2 missile has a range of 2,000km. Pakistan's previous longest-range missile was the Ghouri, tested in 1997, which has a range of 1,300km.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said on Monday that "neighbors and concerned countries," including India, would be informed in advance of the test -- which comes despite peace moves in recent months between the South Asian rivals.
"We have to test these missiles from time to time," he told a press conference on Monday.
Domestically, the test appeared aimed at allaying concerns that President Pervez Musharraf was rolling back the country's nuclear program under international pressure, after Pakistan's top nuclear scientist admitted spreading sensitive technology to other countries.
Musharraf has vowed to retain Pakistan's nuclear deterrent against larger neighbor India. Pakistan conducted a nuclear test in 1998.
Talat Masood, a former army general and military analyst, said the missile test demonstrated Pakistan's advances in missile technology and would help ease criticism at home in the wake of the nuclear proliferation scandal.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability