Pakistan military says nuclear-capable missile test-fired

Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the military said.

The Hatf-2 missile can travel up to 180km and deliver nuclear as well as conventional warheads with high accuracy, the statement from Inter-Services Public Relations said.

The test is part of the process of validation of a land-based ballistic missile system, it said.

"The test provides an operational level capability to Pakistan's strategic forces, in addition to the strategic and technical level capability which Pakistan already possesses," Xinhua quoted the military as saying.

Congratulated

The missile test was witnessed by director-general of Strategic Planning Division, Lieutenant General (retd) Khalid Kidwai, and Commander of Strategic Force Command Lieutenant-General Tarek Nadeem Gilani.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated the army and its engineers. Pakistan last April successfully test-fired another short-range surface-to-surface nuclear capable missile.

Nasr, which also belongs to the Hatf series, can hit targets up to 60km away.