Washington: Claiming that India has 30 to 35 nuclear weapons with yields varying between 5 to 25 kilotons, a US Congress body has said there is now danger of India and Pakistan developing a dreaded biological weapon or weapons.

As of 2002, India has 30 to 35 nuclear weapons with yields varying between 5 to 25 kilotons "despite an Indian claim that it had detonated a nuclear device on May 11, 2002 with a 43 KT yield", the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which advises the US Congress, claimed in a report.

It puts the number of Pakistani nuclear weapons at 24 to 48. Despite Pakistani claims of higher yield weapons, seismic measurements from Pakistani nuclear detonations on May 28 and 30, 2002 suggest yields more along the order of 9 to 12 KT and 4 to 6 KT respectively.

"It is possible that Pakistan has higher yield weapons that have not been tested," it said.

The report said there was a danger that nuclear-armed India and Pakistan may now develop biological weapons.

"India, a 1973 signatory of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), is believed to have an active biological defence research programme as well as the necessary infrastructure to develop a variety of biological agents," it claimed.

PTI