Pakistan tests second missile in less than a week

Pakistan successfully carried out a second test of its medium-range, surface-to-surface missile in less than a week today.

The nuclear-capable Hatf IV missile can apparently hit most targets in neighbouring rival India, which also has nuclear weapons.

There was no immediate reaction from New Delhi, which last week launched its own surface-to-air missile within hours of Pakistan’s initial test.

The army said the launch was part of a two-test series and state media reports said it was now complete.

The exercise was held in Pakistan’s sparsely populated southwestern Baluchistan province.

The Hatf IV, also known as the Shaheen One, has a range of 510 miles, Pakistani defence reports said.

India and Pakistan have deployed a total of more than one million soldiers along their border in disputed Kashmir state.

There have been daily gun battles, and the continued missile testing by both sides threatens to escalate tensions in a region that is already one step from the brink of war.

Pakistan and India have gone to war three times in the last 55 years since the two nations were created following the end of British colonial rule.

They have been dangerously close to a fourth, possibly nuclear confrontation, since last December when Kashmiri militants attacked the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. India accused Pakistani intelligence of masterminding the attack, a charge Islamabad denied.