An American man has been killed by an endangered tribe in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Fishermen who took the man to North Sentinel island say tribespeople shot him with arrows and left his body on the beach.

He has been identified as John Allen Chau, a 27 year old from Alabama.

Contact with the endangered Andaman tribes living in isolation from the world is illegal because of the risks to them from outside disease.

Estimates say the Sentinelese, who are totally cut off from civilisation, number only between 50 and 150.

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Seven fishermen have been arrested for illegally ferrying the American to the island, police say.

Local media have reported that Chau may have wanted to meet the tribe to preach Christianity to them.