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Pak test-fires N-capable missile

By The Assam Tribune

Islamabad, April 25 (IANS): Pakistan today successfully test-fired an intermediate range nuclear-capable missile, less than a week after India tested a 5,000-km range missile that can reach deep inside China.

"Pakistan today successfully conducted the launch of intermediate range ballistic missile Hatf-4 Shaheen-1A weapons system," an army statement said Wednesday. "The missile is an improved version of Shaheen-1 with improvements in range and technical parameters," the statement said.

The missile is capable of "carrying nuclear and conventional warheads", said the statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Pakistan carried out the test after India on April 19 test-fired its long-range nuclear-capable Agni-V missile. With its launch from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast on Thursday, India emerged as a major missile powerhouse of the world, having developed Agni-V almost entirely indigenously over the last four years.

Only the US, Russia, China, France and Britain have missiles in their arsenal that can hit targets 5,000 km and beyond.

Senior Pakistani officials involved in the country's missile system witnessed Wednesday's missile test, reported Xinhua. The army statement did not mention the place where the test was conducted, but said that the missile hit the target in sea.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani congratulated the scientists and the military on the successful launch of the missile system.

The nuclear-capable Shaheen-1 missile has originally a range of 700 km, according to the army.

Pakistan's missile repertory includes Hatf ballistic missiles and its variants, Ghaznavi short-range ballistic missile, Ghauri and Shaheen medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles, Babur cruise missiles and Baktar-Shikan anti-tank guided missile, most of which have been developed with China's help.

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