India says it has successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead deep inside Chinese territory. India’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that the “Agni-5” missile was test-fired from a range in Chandipur in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

India has successfully test-fired an indigenously developed intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead deep into the territory of its geopolitical rival, China, just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for his first visit there in years.

India has warned of a possible steep decline in water flows into its northeast over Beijing's plan to build the world's largest hydropower dam.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India's plans for reforms in the nuclear energy sector in his Independence Day address from the Red Fort in Delhi.   ;

In July, the US President had claimed that five fighter jets were shot down before the India-Pakistan ceasefire. However, he didn't specify which side's aircraft were downed or what the jets were.

"Nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan's stock-in-trade," India 's External Affairs Ministry said in a public statement on its website. "It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country."