Washington: Pakistan's powerful Army has insisted that country's nuclear weapons are safe and that the fears about their falling into the hands of Islamic extremists are totally "unfounded and nonsense".

"Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is very secure.... And our security measures are one of the best in the world. All these fears are basically unfounded and nonsense, of course, about nuclear weapons falling into Islamic radicals. There's nothing like that," army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.

"We very well understand how to keep our nuclear weapons secure, how to look after them. We are a very responsible people, with a responsible institution and a responsible country," he told CNN's Late edition blaming "militias and vested interests" for such reports.

The top military official said that the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was an act of terrorism but claimed that "the basic problem of Taliban is in Afghanistan, not in Pakistan" and Islamabad would ultimately eliminate the local militants.

"... Basically, it was an act of terrorism. They targeted one of the major political leaders in the country... I think the spokesperson for the ministry very clearly said that it's Al Qaida and these people, Baitullah Mehsud, who was behind this act of terrorism, which killed Minister Benazir Bhutto," Arshad said.

"We have segments of local militants in our area, or local extremists, and are dealing with them quite effectively and are very confident that we are going to deal with them and eliminate them, ultimately, from our place," the Pakistani military official said.

Source : PTI