Pakistan Test Fires New Missile

Pakistan test fired a new, more accurate short-range surface-to-surface missile Monday, a move that is likely to aggravate already troubled relations with neighbor India.

According to a government statement, the missile can hit targets 60 miles away and can carry a variety of warheads. It did not say whether that included a nuclear warhead.

South Asia's hostile neighbors, India and Pakistan, tested nuclear devices in 1998 and declared themselves nuclear powers. Both countries possess ballistic missiles with longer ranges than the one tested Monday by Pakistan.

"The new design allows a greater payload, improved accuracy and can successfully destroy targets" up to 63 miles away using a variety of warheads, the government statement said.

It also said that prior warning of the test was given to all of Pakistan's neighbors.

Both nations also say they possess a minimum nuclear deterrent, although neither has spelled out what that means.

Pakistan's missile arsenal includes longer range ballistic missiles with ranges of up to 900 miles, capable of reaching most targets in neighboring India. This missile can also carry a nuclear warhead.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since the South Asian subcontinent gained its independence from Britain in 1947.

Their usually frosty relationship worsened following last December's hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane. India accused Pakistan of orchestrating the hijacking, a charge that Islamabad has flatly denied.

The hijacking has caused a bitter war of words between the two uneasy neighbors and has resulted in an increase in cross-border attacks along the disputed border that divides the former Himalayan state of Kashmir between the two countries.

The neighbors fought two wars over Kashmir and a nasty Kashmir border war last summer left many fearing the possibility of an all-out confrontation between the world's newest nuclear powers.

Washington says Pakistan's arsenal also includes the Chinese-made M-11, which both Islamabad and Beijing deny.

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