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.
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