BHUBANESHWAR, India (AFP) - India Sunday successfully carried out its first test of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,480 miles), defense officials said.

The Agni-III missile was launched from Wheeler Island, 180 kilometers northeast of Bhubaneshwar in the eastern state of Orissa, they said on condition of anonymity.

In May Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the Agni-III, India's longest-range ballistic missile, was ready but that the country was observing "self-imposed restraint" before testing.

Opposition parties criticized the announcement, saying testing was being delayed because of pressure from the United States. New Delhi and Washington reached a landmark deal in March that will see sanctions lifted on India's access to civilian nuclear technology.

Sunday's test launch comes just four days after North Korea sparked an international outcry by test-firing seven missiles.

A highly-placed Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) source said the Indian test was "successful".

He said scientists had detected a snag in the booster rocket system of the Agni-III two weeks ago and had delayed its test. "Now we have papered over the problem and hence the launch window was chosen as Sunday," he said.

The missile was tracked during take-off, re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and splashdown in the Bay of Bengal, another defense official said.

The Agni (Fire) is one of five missiles being developed by the DRDO under its Integrated Guided Missile Development Program launched in 1983. The others are the Prithvi, the surface-to-air Trishul (Trident), multi-purpose Akash (Sky), and the anti-tank Nag (Cobra).

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947, routinely notify each other of missile tests.

"We were informed about it," said Pakistani foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam in Islamabad. "It is a ballistic missile test and we have agreement on pre-notification of ballistic missile tests," she said.

"We have no other reaction."

The two countries came to the brink of a fourth war in the summer of 2002 following a December 2001 attack on India's parliament by suspected Pakistan-backed militants. Islamabad denied any role in the attack.

But in January 2004 they began a peace process that has led to a ceasefire in the divided Himalayan state of Kashmir, the cause of two of the wars.

In May 1998 India conducted five nuclear tests, citing China as a security threat. The tests were matched two weeks later by Pakistan which India says has received Chinese assistance for its nuclear program, a claim denied by Beijing.

But tensions between China and India have lessened in the past two years. There have been direct military talks and the reopening last week of a famed Silk Road pass in the Himalayas, the first direct border trade between the Asian giants since a frontier war 44 years ago.

C. Uday Bhaskar, deputy head of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, said India's nuclear and missile programs should not be seen as country-specific.

"Countries acquire strategic capabilities that are generic in nature. Our program is not predicated on a single point threat. It is always in relation to the international strategic environment," Bhaskar said.