The comments came a day after the US urged nuclear rivals India and Pakistan to exercise restraint in South Asia following the test firing by Islamabad of its third nuclear-capable missile in 11 days.

"Both sides have tested missiles ... each side has the same obligations," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday in Washington.

India on Wednesday said such comments were uncalled for.

"We are surprised at the manner in which the US State Department spokesman has chosen to respond to Pakistan's missile test," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.

"He ought to have confined his comments to reacting to the Pakistani missile test rather than "cluttering" up what he had to say by thinly-disguising unwarranted references to India," Sarna said.

Pakistan, a key US anti-terror ally, on Tuesday announced the successful test of a medium-range surface-to-surface Hatf IV/Shaheen 1 ballistic missile.

The Shaheen 1 can carry any type of warhead up to 700 kilometersmiles), which means it could send a nuclear payload deep into India.

Pakistan and India went public as nuclear powers in May 1998 when they both conducted nuclear tests.

They have fought three wars since Pakistan's creation in 1947 and last year were on the brink of a fourth war which many feared would turn into the world's first nuclear conflict.

SPACE.WIRE