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ISLAMABAD, May 28 (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Tuesday it successfully test-fired a 180-km (110-mile) range missile, the third and last in a series carried out during a tense military crisis with India.

The test came as British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was in Islamabad to meet Pakistan's military President Pervez Musharraf as part of intense diplomatic efforts aimed at averting war between the nuclear-capable neighbours.

In a televised speech on Monday night, Musharraf said Pakistan would not start a war with India, but would respond "with full might" if attacked.

The army says the tests, which began on Saturday, are routine and not linked to the confrontation with India.

Nevertheless, observers say they are clearly aimed at sending a message that Pakistan could meet any conventional Indian attack with massive retaliation, and showing it would have the capability to send nuclear warheads towards Indian cities.

The missile tests are also seen as sabre-rattling by Musharraf to satisfy domestic hawks who accuse him of caving in to Indian pressure by abandoning, or preparing to abandon, militants fighting Indian rule in mainly Muslim Kashmir.

"As part of a series of military tests currently underway, Pakistan today carried out a successful test fire of its short-range indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile Hatf-II (ABDALI)," the Pakistan military said in a statement.

"The system is capable of carrying warheads accurately up to a range of 180 km," it said. "The flight data confirmed its accuracy and all other design parameters which were successfully validated."

Pakistan says its ballistic missiles could carry nuclear warheads, and has not ruled out using its nuclear capability in response to a conventional attack.

"The successful test fire of ABDALI concludes for now the series of tests conducted over the last few days," the military statement said.

The two South Asian states have massed about a million men along their border since a December attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based Kashmiri militants.

Tension soared again after an attack by suspected Islamic militants on an Indian army base in disputed Kashmir on May 14, prompting Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to tell his frontline troops to prepare for a "decisive fight."

In Monday's speech, Musharraf repeated his condemnation of both attacks, which he described as acts of terrorism, but also expressed support for the "liberation struggle" in the Indian-ruled part of Kashmir and condemned Indian "tyranny".

He insisted there was no infiltration across the line which divides Kashmir and said he would not let Pakistan be used as a base for terrorism.

India's formal response to the speech is expected later on Tuesday, although Defence Minister George Fernandes has already said New Delhi sees no sign of Pakistan seeing reason and that its options are narrowing. 

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