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Pakistan Test-Fires Shaheen-III Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missile


Pakistani military personnel stand beside a Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile during a military parade. (file photo)
Pakistani military personnel stand beside a Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile during a military parade. (file photo)

The Pakistani Army says it has successfully test-fired a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to a target up to 2,750 kilometers away.

The test was aimed at “re-validating various design and technical parameters” of the Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the media arm of the military said in a statement on January 20, adding that the point of impact of the missile was in the Arabian Sea.

The flight test was witnessed by General Nadeem Raza, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, who said the aim of Pakistan’s "strategic capability is to deter any aggression against the sovereignty” of the country.

The Shaheen-III was first test-fired in 2015.

Pakistan and archrival India have been developing stockpiles of nuclear warheads and missiles of varying ranges since they tested nuclear devices in 1998.

The two neighbors have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

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