India test-fires nuclear-capable Agni-5 ballistic missile

5,400km-range missile that can carry a nuclear warhead tested

India has test-fired a long-range missile that can carry a nuclear warhead, a pre-scheduled exercise that gains significance following fresh tensions along its disputed border with China.

"The missile will add great value to the defense and strengthen national security to a greater extent" as it can travel more than 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles), Pralhad Joshi, a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, said in a Twitter post.

The Agni-5 ballistic missile was test-fired on Wednesday from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast in eastern India.

Its range gives the ability to strike key cities in the region. While a pre-test warning had been issued to airmen weeks ago as per protocol, the timing of the actual firing could be seen as a message to China.

Troops of the two nations clashed as recently as Friday in the northeast Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Tensions along the nations' 3,488-kilometer (2,170 miles) disputed border have simmered since the June 2020 clash "- the worst in more than 40 years "- left at least 20 Indian troops and at least four Chinese soldiers dead.

The Agni-5 was first tested in 2012. The South Asian nation has a no-first-use policy of nuclear weapons.