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Pakistan started preparing for N-tests six days after Pokhran II

The first five devices were exploded deep below the ground in a concrete sealed tunnel, the Associated Press of Pakistan said following a tour of the site by local journalists.

A nearby mountain shed its centuries old carbon coating and turned from black to white.

The tunnel still is sealed, according to Dr Ishfaq Ahmed, chairman of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission. He said it will take another six to eight months to collect data from the tests, the APP reported.

The sixth device, identified only as a ''miniaturised device,'' was exploded in a 36-metre shaft in the nearby Kharan desert on May 30.

The yield was about 60 per cent of the first tests, according to the APP.

In the last two days, representatives of both the United States and the United Nations have been in the region urging restrain and seeking ways to reduce tensions that escalated following the tests.

''The tests have imbued the Pakistani nation with the will and courage to stand on its own feet and (they have been) an inspiration for self-reliance,'' the APP quoted information minister Mushahid Hussein as saying.

UNI

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