Pakistan test fires short-range ballistic missile

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan on Monday successfully test-fired a short-range ballistic missile with a range of 350 kilometers (217 miles), the military said.

The indigenously made missile, capable of “precisely” hitting targets on land and sea, was fired from a Pakistan Navy ship in the northern Arabian Sea, said a statement from Inter-Services Public Relations, a media wing of the Pakistan Army.

With the latest navigation system, the missile is capable of changing its speed and direction in the air, the statement added.

Naval chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf and other senior officers witnessed the test.

Meanwhile, President Asif Zardrai, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the three military chiefs congratulated the scientists and units on a "successful" test of the short-range ballistic missile.

Pakistan and its longtime rival India routinely carry out missile tests and have agreed to inform each other of tests in advance.