Pak. suspected to have 25 nuclear warheads

WASHINGTON, JUNE 2. Pakistan has 25 nuclear warheads and North Korea is suspected to have two, a Washington Times report said today.

The newspaper, quoting the Central Intelligence Agency, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Federation of American Scientists, published a chart which showed that even ``nuclear threshold'' Israel had 200 nuclear warheads. India is suspected to have 50 such weapons whereas the tally worldwide shows the U.S. as having 6,750, Russia 5,400, France 400, China 300 and Britain 200.

On delivery vehicles, the report said the U.S., which can deliver nuclear warheads by air and land-based and sea-based missiles, is extending the life span of its Minuteman III inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Russia too has similar capabilities and has gathered all missiles stationed in the former Soviet republics. France eliminated land- based missiles in the Nineties and Britain limited its nuclear force to submarine-based missiles. The chart does not say anything about China's means of delivery.

The report says India could use British-built Jaguar jets or possibly short-range missiles to deliver its nuclear bombs, Pakistan the U.S.-supplied F-16s or possibly short-range missiles and Israel the U.S.-supplied aircraft or medium-range missiles. It warned that North Korea may be developing an ICBM that could reach the U.S. - PTI

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