- ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -- Pakistan
successfully test-fired on Tuesday an intermediate-range ballistic missile
capable of carrying nuclear warheads as parts of its efforts to boost its
defences, a military statement said.
-
- Nuclear-armed Pakistan conducts regular missile tests,
despite a revived peace process with nuclear rival India. The last time
Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable missile was on June 4.
-
- "Pakistan this morning carried out another successful
test of the indigenously produced intermediate range ballistic missile
Hatf V (Ghauri)," the statement said.
-
- It said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz witnessed the test
of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a range of 1,500 km (940 miles).
-
- In March, Pakistan test-fired the Shaheen II ballistic
missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles). It said the missile was
capable of carrying nuclear warheads to every corner of India.
-
- Pakistan tested its first nuclear bomb in 1998 and says
its weapons programme is a response to that of India, with which it has
fought three wars since both countries won independence from Britain in
1947.
-
- Ghauri and Shaheen are different versions of a Pakistani
missile series named Hatf, which is a reference to an ancient Islamic weapon.
-
- Pakistan first test-fired the Ghauri missile in April
1998. India and Pakistan carried out nuclear tests the following month.
-
- The Ghauri missile were formally inducted into the military
in January 2003.
-
- The missile was developed by Khan Research Laboratories,
Pakistan's main uranium-enrichment facility, which was named for Abdul
Qadeer Khan, the once-revered as the father of the country's atom bomb.
-
- Khan was sacked this year from his job as a special government
adviser after he admitted to exporting nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and
North Korea.
-
- Some experts say the Ghauri missile was developed with
North Korean help in return for nuclear know-how, but Pakistan denies the
link and says it is indigenously produced.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable
for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL163056.htm
-
|
