Pakistan announces successful test of second missile

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan has successfully test fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile, the second such test in less than a week, the army said.

The Hatf-4 missile, also known as the Shaheen 1, was fired off early Wednesday, according to the army. The missile has a range of 435 miles, meaning it can hit most major targets in rival India.

The test followed a similar launching on Friday of the short-range Hatf-2 Ghaznavi after which Pakistan said it was in the middle of a series of such tests.

Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said India had been told of each of the launches beforehand and he said the tests should not affect relations between the two neighbors.

"The test is part of the ongoing series of tests of Pakistan's indigenous missile systems," the army said in a statement.

It added that: "In a spirit of confidence building, Pakistan had given prior notification of the tests to its neighbors."

In New Delhi, the Indian Defense Ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

"These tests are on going. This will have no impact on the situation in the region," Sultan told The Associated Press.

Friday's test was the first in Pakistan since March, but Islamabad insists the missile tests have nothing to do with simmering tensions with India.

The two countries appeared headed for peace talks a few months ago, and the silos were silent while they resumed diplomatic ties and restored bus links.

On April 18, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee raised hopes in the region with a surprise call for peace with Pakistan, saying he was extending a "hand of friendship" to his bitter rival.

The neighbors appeared eager to discuss even the flashpoint issue of Kashmir, the Himalayan region split between the two and claimed by both in entirety. The former princely state has been the source of two of the three wars Pakistan and India have fought since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.

But negotiations never materialized and Pakistani and Indian leaders have recently traded accusations and insults.

Indian and Pakistani officials at the U.N. General Assembly last month engaged in their most bitter public sparring in years.

Pakistan and India have used weapons tests in the past to send a message to each other.

In 1998, the countries shocked the world by conducting tit-for-tat nuclear tests, earning years of sanctions. They nearly went to war in 2002 after an attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed Islamic militants.

International mediation prevented what would have been the first open war between nuclear powers.