KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan's army on Thursday said it had successfully tested a ballistic missile Ghaznavi amid heightened tensions with arch-rival India.

Named after the 11th-century Afghan king, the missile is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads up to a range of 290 kilometers, according to a statement from the army's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

This was part of a military drill aimed at training the troops for combat, it added.

President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the three services chiefs "congratulated the nation on this landmark achievement," the statement concluded.

The fresh flare-up in already heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals was sparked by New Delhi’s scrapping of the longstanding special rights of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in August last year.

India and Pakistan both hold Kashmir in parts and claim it in full. China also controls part of the contested region, but it is India and Pakistan who have attacked two wars over Kashmir.