Pakistan is building missile-launch sites near its border with India and is moving missiles toward the area, The Washington Times reported Monday, citing US intelligence officials and intelligence reports.
The sites consist of concrete areas where mobile missile launchers capable of firing short-range M-11 or Haft missiles will be stationed, the report said.
“US intelligence agencies have learned that five new missile-launch sites are being built in eastern Pakistan and have identified the exact location of three of the new sites,” the Times article said.
A convoy of 95 trucks was seen near a missile-storage facility south of Islamabad and is believed to be carrying missiles toward the border with India, officials told the paper, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan has several types of missile systems “capable of striking a large number of targets throughout most of India,” according to intelligence reports cited by the Times.
These include medium-range Ghauri missiles “acquired from North Korea,” Shaheen I short-range missiles and longer-range Shaheen II missiles, which are still in development, the reports said.
India and Pakistan each have close to a million soldiers massed on their common border, a month after an attack on India’s parliament which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militants backed by government intelligence services.
The nuclear-armed rivals agreed in telephone calls Sunday with US President George W. Bush, however, to reduce mounting tensions, the White House said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell departs for the region Tuesday in an effort to help defuse the situation, which top US senators have characterized as “incredibly dangerous” and “literally explosive.”
