India tests Agni missile, boosts nuclear security

India Thursday test fired a shorter-range version of its nuclear-capable Agni missile, capable of striking almost anywhere in Pakistan, that analysts said would boost its defences against its nuclear-armed neighbour.

The test at a remote site in eastern Orissa state over the Bay of Bengal "was a textbook launch, everything went perfectly," a senior defence official told Reuters in New Delhi.

The ballistic missile test, one of a series planned in coming days, followed the exchange of tough nuclear rhetoric earlier this week by India and Pakistan, which nearly went to war last year over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the test, watched by Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes, came as no surprise as New Delhi's "nuclear and missile ambitions were well known."

The surface-to-surface Agni model, which can carry a nuclear warhead, is the backbone of India's efforts to build a credible self-defence strategy against nuclear-armed Pakistan and China. Agni-1 has a one-ton payload capacity and can be fired from rail and road launchers, making it highly mobile.

"The test is one more step in enhancing India's overall weapons of mass destruction capability," said Uday Bhaskar, deputy head of the government-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Earlier this week, Fernandes said India would destroy Pakistan in any reprisal against a Pakistani nuclear attack.

His statement came after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the threat of a "non-conventional war" helped avert a conflict between the two neighbours last year over Kashmir.

Musharraf's spokesman swiftly denied that the Pakistani leader meant a nuclear war, saying he was referring to a popular uprising against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir.

India has a 'no first strike' policy but Pakistan has not ruled out using nuclear weapons first if its territorial integrity is threatened. The rivals have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two over Kashmir.

AFP adds: India's ballistic missile test Thursday demonstrates the "war-mongering mindset" of its leadership, Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

"Pakistan is above such war-mongering psyche," Ahmed told AFP.

"At the same time we are not oblivious to our defence requirements."