Islamabad: Pakistan today (Mar 9, 2004) test fired its first 2,000 km range surface-to-surface "Shaheen-II" ballistic missile, capable of carrying nuclear warhead and hitting targets deep inside India, apparently to match the neighbour's Agni-II missile.

"Pakistan today successfully carried out the maiden test-fire of Shaheen II surface-to-surface ballistic missile," an official statement said.

"The launching of Shaheen II or Hataf VI missile reflected Pakistan's resolve to maintain minimum credible deterrence as the cornerstone of its security policy," it said adding, "By the grace of Allah, all the planned technical parameters were successfully validated during the test-fire."

The test-firing of the missile came in the midst of the Indo-Pak peace process and was apparently aimed at matching India's Agni-II ballistic missile having a strike range of over 2,000 km. India is also developing Agni-III, which is expected to have a range of 3,000 km.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali congratulated the scientists for the "successful" flight test of the "indigenously" built missile, the statement said.

This was the first time Pakistan test fired a 2,000 km long range missile, which officials claimed, has the ability to hit a number of Indian cities.