NEW DELHI, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- India's nuclear-capable intermediate range Agni-II missile failed to get the desired results when being test-fired for the first time after sunset on Monday, reported the Times of India on Tuesday.

    The Army test-fired the surface-to-surface Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) from Wheeler's Island off the coast of the southeast state of Orissa at around 19:50 p.m. (14:20 GMT), said the report.

    The liftoff and the first stage separation was smooth, but it faltered just before the second stage separation and "behaved erratically" by deviating from its coordinated path, the report quoted an unnamed source as saying,

    The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and a naval ship, said the report.

    The nuclear capable 2,000-km-plus range missile has a length of20 meters, a diameter of one meter, weighs 17 tons and can carry a payload of around 1,000 kg. It was first tested on April 11, 1999.