Pak nuclear suicide bombers could be a reality, fears Clinton

Hillary Clinton addressing an election rally

Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has expressed concern over the possibility of emergence of nuclear suicide bombers from Pakistan if jihadists get access to the country's atomic weapons, a media report has said.

"We live in fear that they're going to have a coup, that jihadists are going to take over the government, they're going to get access to nuclear weapons, and you'll have suicide nuclear bombers. So, this could not be a more threatening scenario," the New York Times said, quoting Clinton as saying in an audio being hacked from Democratic Party's computers.

"Pakistan is running full speed to develop tactical nukes in their continuing hostility with India," the former secretary of state told a close-door fundraiser in Virginia in February, the paper reported.

During the fundraiser, responding to a question on modernisation of nuclear weapons, the daily said, Clinton went beyond the question to warn of an emerging nuclear arms race, naming Russia and China as well as Pakistan and India. "This is one of the most dangerous developments imaginable," Clinton said.

Such remarks from the former secretary of state gain significance in view of an interview of Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif to the local TV channel in which he threatened to unleash nukes against India. The United States appears to have taken a strong note of Asif's statement.