ISLAMABAD, 1 April 2007 — Pakistan yesterday successfully test-fired its short-range nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the military announced.
The Hatf II Abdali missile has a range of 200 km and “can carry all types of warheads,” the military said in a statement.
The test, aimed at “validation of the desired technical parameters,” was a success, it added. The military did not provide any further details, but Pakistan and its nuclear-armed rival, neighboring India, routinely test missiles.
Pakistan’s latest comes about a week after India tested its indigenously developed air-to-air Astra missile, with a range of up to 80 km. India’s and Pakistan’s short, medium and long-range missiles are able to hit targets within each other’s territory.
Last week, Pakistan test fired a nuclear-capable Hatf-V11 Babur cruise missile with a range of 700 km.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India routinely carry out missile tests despite a peace process they launched in early 2004, and both have agreed to inform each other of such tests in advance.
Pakistan and India carried out tit-for-tat nuclear weapons tests in 1998.
Pakistan-India relations have improved since 2004, when they began a peace process in an effort to resolve differences, including the one over Kashmir.
The leaders from Pakistan and India will meet next week on the sidelines of a regional summit in New Delhi. The two countries are main members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, which will hold its annual summit in New Delhi on April 3-4.
