India has test-fired a long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, local media reported on Thursday — a development said to be a pre-scheduled exercise that gains significance against the backdrop of a recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the disputed Himalayan border.

According to Indian news website The Quint, the surface-to-surface missile, Agni-5, was developed indigenously, and it has a strike range of 5,000 kilometres.

The missile was launched from the Integrated Test Range at Abdul Kalam Island in the eastern Indian state of Odisha’s Bhadrak district, the report said, citing defence ministry source.

Later, a minister from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, Pralhad Joshi, celebrated the development as a “historic milestone”.

“India successfully test-fires Agni- 5 interconuclear-capablear capable ballistic missile from Abdul Kalam Island. The missile will add great value to the defense and strengthen national security to a greater extent as it can travel 5400+ plus kilometres,” the minister added in a Twitter post.

Meanwhile, a report by international news agency Bloomberg said the missile’s range gave it 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,” the report added.

Relations between China and India have been at rock-bottom since a clash that left 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops dead on their high-altitude Himalayan frontier in June 2020.

A more recent clash earlier this saw Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh accusing Beijing of attempting “to unilaterally change the status quo by encroaching on the Line of Actual Control”.

He said the face-off had resulted in injuries on both sides of the border, but there was no confirmation by Beijing in this regard.

For its part, China called on New Delhi to “together uphold peace” and said the two sides “maintained unobstructed dialogue on the border issue through diplomatic and military channels.”