From correspondents in India, 04:30 PM IST

India Sunday successfully test fired the BrahMos cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia, from a base in Orissa, a military official said.

The missile was fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in the coastal district of Balasore at 12.15 pm, ITR director A. Checker told IANS. He refused to provide details.

The supersonic missile, which takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, was test fired from launch pad number 3, official sources said.

Top military officials, scientists of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and A. Sivathanu Pillai, chief executive officer and managing director of BrahMos, were among those who witnessed the test.

Chandipur is located 16 km from Balasore town and some 220 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)