'Asian nuclear war could kill 1.2 crore people'

The United States believes that an atomic arms race in the Middle East and Asia has the 'direct potential to lead to nuclear war', according to classified US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

The Pentagon estimates that if an atomic conflict was to break out in the region, nearly 12 million people could die.

At a non-proliferation meeting in 2008, the US warned in a secret briefing, "A nuclear and missile arms race (in South Asia) has the direct potential to lead to nuclear war in the world's most densely populated area and a region of increasing global economic significance."

The cables reveal how much effort North Korea and Syria were putting in to get hold of material to make chemical and biological weapons, the Daily Mail reports.

Another cable said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had intervened to stop Syria from buying material used to produce chemical weapons from India.

It said that Rice had sent a forceful memo to the Indian government to block the sale.