Pakistan military on Wednesday said there was "absolutely no chance" that the country's nuclear weapons could fall into terrorist hands and denied reports of militants attacking atomic weapon's facilities three times in the last two years. Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said news reports regarding the attacks were "misleading" and false as none of the bases mentioned had any nuclear facilities,the Dawn reported. A short takeover by Taliban militants of some areas just 60 miles from the federal capital had raised fears that militants linked to al Qaeda had attempted to raid some defence establishments storing nuclear weapons. Prof Shaun Gregory,the Director of Pakistan's security research unit at Bradford University gave details of three attacks since November 2007 and also raised specter of more such attacks in future. Islamabad has been tightlipped about its nuclear arsenals,but American experts estimate that Pakistan could have anywhere between 80-100 nuclear warheads. The report had also quoted Dr Anupam Srivastava,the Director of the Centre for International trade and security at the University of Georgia,who also advises US government on nuclear issues,also said he believed there have been more than three attacks on Pakistan's atomic facilities. He said,the attack at Wah,on the outskirts of capital had killed 63 people. The British expert wrote that the most recent attack took place in Wah,where a coordinated suicide bombings were carried out. He said he considered Wah as one of the Pakistan's main nuclear sites. Greogory said the three attacks appeared more aimed at causing damage rather than seizing nuclear weapons or technology. However,the military spokesman said none of the military bases named were used to store nuclear weapons. Abbas said that the Wah ordinance factory made small arms and ammunitions,while Kamra was a air force station and Sargoda,a air force base. "These are no where close to any nuclear facility," he said,the newspaper reported. The Pakistani general claimed that Pentagon had recently exuded confidence in Islamabad's security measures. He said the country had a system of keeping nuclear weapons components and triggering devices separately. Khalid Kidwai,a top Pakistani nuclear official had claimed that Islamabad deploys more than 10,000 soldiers to protect its nuclear weapons and had received upto USD 10 million as American help to enhance security. "We are very confident that our security standards are world standard," he said.
