Isolated Indian tribe kill American intruder

PORT BLAIR, INDIA: Some of the world´s last tribespeople untouched by modern civilisation have killed an American who ventured illegally onto their remote island, Indian police said Wednesday.

John Chau, 27, was hit by a hail of arrows as he set foot on North Sentinel Island, part of the Indian Andaman Islands, last Saturday, official sources told AFP.

"He was attacked by arrows but he continued walking. The fishermen saw the tribals tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body," the source said.

"They were scared and fled but returned next morning to find his body on the sea shore."

North Sentinel is home to the Sentinelese people, believed to number only around 150. To protect the tribe´s way of life, foreigners and Indians are banned from going within three miles (five kilometres).

Chau, who according to Indian media was a Christian missionary, had offered local fishermen money to take him to the island, the source said. They took him some of the way and he paddled the rest in a canoe.

Indian media said the fishermen told a preacher in the main town of the Andamans, Port Blair, about the incident and the preacher contacted Chau´s family in the United States.

A spokesperson for the US consulate in the southern Indian city of Chennai said only that they were aware of "reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands".

"The welfare and safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the US Department of State," the mission said in a statement emailed to AFP, without further comment.