"The 16-metre-long (52-feet) missile weighing 48 tonnes lifted off successfully from its rail mobile launcher system leaving a trail of orange and yellow smoke," India's Defence Ministry said in a statement from New Delhi.

"The entire flight path of approximately 15 minutes duration validated all mission objectives," the statement said, adding the test "confirmed India's strategic capability for minimum credible deterrence."

The ministry gave the range of the missile tested Thursday as more than 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) and said it was capable of carrying a nuclear or conventional payload of 1.5 tonnes.

China reacted swiftly saying it hoped that India, "as a country with an important influence in this region, can work to maintain and promote peace and stability in the region.

"We hope they can make a positive contribution in this regard and play a positive role," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.

It was the second test of Agni-III, a two-stage solid fuelled missile which has a diameter of 1.8 metres (six feet) and can carry nuclear or conventional warheads.

The first test ended in failure last July when it developed problems after a successful take-off and crashed into the sea without hitting a designated target.

"With this success, the design team is happy that the problems faced in the previous attempt on July 9 last year have been fully understood and solved," the ministry said.

Security analysts also cheered the successful test.

Bharat Karnad, research professor at the Centre for Policy Research, said the Agni-III "gives India the strategic reach that ... certainly the military wants."

The next step would be the development of an inter-continental ballistic missile, he said.

Indian security analyst C. Uday Bhaskar said it would be "misleading to see the Agni test in a unifocal manner as anti-China."

"In the post-Cold War period, Weapons of Mass Destruction capability is not predicated on a single-point threat. The Agni test should be seen in the context of India trying to enhance its country's overall strategic profile," he said.

"Unlike in the Cold War, when adversaries were well identified, the current orientation is towards prudent insurance in a strategic sense."

Agni-III was originally scheduled for testing in 2003 but it was believed to have been deferred amid moves by arch-rivals India and Pakistan to bury decades of mutual hostility.

An Indian foreign ministry source in New Delhi said India, which signed an agreement with Pakistan on the pre-notification of ballistic missile tests in October 2005, had informed Islamabad of the latest Agni-III test.

India, which conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998, has developed a series of nuclear and conventional missile systems as part of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)'s Integrated Missile Development Programme which was launched in 1983.

The Agni is one of five missiles developed by the DRDO.

New Delhi has already begun the production of two variants of the Agni -- a 700-kilometre (434-mile) Agni-I and the 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) range Agni-II after flight-testing both the ballistic missiles numerous times since 1993.

The other four missiles are the Prithvi, the surface-to-air Trishul (Trident), multi-purpose Akash (Sky), and the anti-tank Nag (Cobra).

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