India testfires nuclear capable Agni II missile

NEW DELHI - India Tuesday testfired its medium-range, nuclear-capable Agni II missile from a military island off the coast of eastern state of Odisha, sources said.

"The home-made, surface-to-surface missile was testfired this morning from the Integrated Test Range in Odisha's Balasore district as part of Indian Army's training exercise," sources said.

The two-stage Agni II missile, with a strike range of over 2,000 km, has already been inducted into the Indian Army. It can carry a payload of 1,000 kg.

Agni is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles developed by India, named after one of the five elements of nature - fire.

The first missile of the series, Agni I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and successfully testfired in 1989.