Pakistan tests two nuclear-capable missiles

Pakistan successfully test-fired two short-range, nuclear-capable missiles today as part of efforts to boost defence capabilities, the military said.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and senior military officials watched the test-firing of the Ghaznavi ballistic missile, which can travel up to 185 miles, and the Shaheen-I, with a range of 400 miles.

"Both missiles successfully hit the target areas," the military said in a statement. It did not identify the location of the tests.

Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in May 1998, days after similar tests by old rival India.

The South Asian neighbours, which have fought three wars since their independence from British rule in 1947, regularly carry out missile tests and the latest Pakisani tests were not expected to increase tension between them.

India halted a tentative peace process after an assault on its city of Mumbai by Pakistan-based Islamist militants in 2008 but the countries' prime ministers met in Bhutan last month and asked their officials to take steps to normalise ties.

On Thursday, an Indian court sentenced to death a Pakistani national, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunmen in the Mumbai assault that killed 166 people.