ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan test-fired a medium-range, surface-to-surface Ghauri missile on Saturday as tension with India simmered over disputed Kashmir, Reuters reported.

"Pakistan today carried out a successful test fire of its indigenously developed medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf-V (Ghauri)," the Pakistani military said in a statement.

"According to the data collected from the test all design parameters have been successfully validated." Pakistan had said on Friday it would conduct a series of routine missile tests from Saturday unt

The military statement did not give the range of the missile, say where it had been tested or give information about more tests.

"It demonstrated Pakistan's determination to defend itself, strengthen national security and consolidate strategic balance in the region," the statement said.

The statement said Pakistan had not tested a major missile system since April 1999.

In New Delhi, a foreign ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the test.

"We have given our point of view yesterday. We have nothing more to add," the spokeswoman told Reuters.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India have been locked in a tense confrontation on their border since a bloody raid on the Indian Parliament in December that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants fighti

Tension rose sharply after a bloody May 14 raid on an Indian army camp in Kashmir, which India blamed on the same Islamic groups it held responsible for the Parliament attack.

Both sides have massed a million men along their border, backed by missile batteries, tanks and fighter planes, since December.

On Friday, India played down the significance of the tests and said Pakistan had informed it the exercise would involve short- and medium-range missiles.

Meanwhile, the United States on Friday warned its citizens to defer travel to India and Pakistan, saying it could not rule out a military clash in tension-wracked South Asia, AFP reported.

While pledging to press on with its efforts to defuse the crisis, Washington also expressed disappointment at Pakistan's decision to risk further inflaming the situation by launching a series of missi

In twin travel warnings, the state department warned, "conditions along India's border with Pakistan and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have deteriorated." "Tensions have risen to serious levels, a

Americans in Pakistan were reminded that there have already been attacks on their compatriots in the country since Washington launched its campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan after the September