Pakistan test-fires 2nd nuclear-capable missile in week

Pakistan has test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads for the second time in less than a week.

The Shaheen 1A, also known as Hatf IV, has a range of 900 kilometers, a military statement said on Monday.

The development came three days after the Pakistani army successfully test-fired another nuclear-capable missile, which can hit targets 1,500 kilometers away.

The Shaheen-II missile, also known as Hatf-VI, blasted off from an undisclosed location in the country, targeting somewhere in the Arabian Sea.

Earlier on Friday, the Indian army successfully test-fired a new nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile, named Prithvi-II (Earth-II), with a range of 350 kilometers in India’s eastern state of Odisha.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in an arms race since the partition of the two countries in 1947.

In 1998, Pakistan and India conducted nuclear tests days apart after years of clandestine work to achieve the know-how.

Both neighbors have refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international regulatory pacts that restrict developing or testing nuclear weapons. India considers the NPT as discriminatory, while Pakistan has indicated that it will not join the international treaty until its neighbor does so.