- Surface-to-surface missile capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons at range of up to 1,500 miles
- Latest test follows heightened tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday conducted a “successful” training launch of the surface-to-surface ballistic Shaheen-II, the army’s media wing said, a missile capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads up to a range of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles).
“Shaheen II is a highly capable missile which fully meets Pakistan’s strategic needs towards maintenance of deterrence stability in the region,” Pakistan’s military said in a statement.
The training launch, whose impact point was in the Arabian Sea, is aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of the army’s strategic forces command, the statement added.
The latest missile test follows heightened tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India who came close to war in February over the disputed region of Kashmir, which both sides have claimed since independence from Britain in 1947.
Following a suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troopers in February, Indian jets launched a raid inside Pakistan, striking what New Delhi said was a training camp of Jaish-e Mohammed, the militant group that claimed the Kashmir attack.
Pakistan denies a militant camp was hit and conducted a retaliatory strike of its own. Following this, jets from the two countries fought a dogfight in the skies over Kashmir during which an Indian pilot was shot down and captured. Pakistan returned the pilot and there were no further strikes but tensions have remained high, with regular exchanges of artillery fire from both sides in Kashmir.
Pakistan has also kept part of its airspace closed to international air traffic, disrupting flights to India and other parts of the region.
On Wednesday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke briefly with his Indian counterpart Shushma Swaraj at the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
“We never speak bitterly,” Mahmood said after the meeting. “We want to live like good neighbors and settle our outstanding issues through talks.”