India says it has tested a new version of its intermediate range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Officials in New Delhi say the rocket, one of India's Agni-series missiles, was successfully test-fired Friday morning at a coastal test range (Chandipur) in eastern Orissa state.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman (Nirupama Rao) says the missile had a range of less than 700 kilometers. An earlier version of the Agni missile had a range of more than two-thousand kilometers.
The spokeswoman says the test was planned in advance, and the timing was determined, in her words, "solely by technical factors." She says the test was not related to the current military stand-off with India's nuclear rival, Pakistan.
In Pakistan, a foreign ministry statement called test "ill-timed" and "prejudicial" to the pusuit of regional stability. Pakistan did say that India gave advance notice of the launch.
Both countries have massed troops and military equipment along their border, amid mounting tensions sparked by last month's terrorist attack on India's Parliament.
India wants Pakistan to hand over 20 people that New Delhi says have been involved in criminal activity in India, including terrorism. India also demands that Pakistan stop what it calls cross-border terrorism in Indian Kashmir.
Pakistan says it is cracking down on Islamic extremism.