Sri Lankan authorities on Tuesday arrested 75 Indian fishermen allegedly poaching in its territorial waters, local officials said.

The fishermen in 23 boats had also clashed with the locals off the coast of Pesalai in north-western Sri Lanka, a police official said.

He said 17 Indian fishermen had been injured and admitted to a local hospital. The remaining were taken into custody.

Fishermen from both countries are known to poach in each others' waters and clashes have been common in recent months.

Indian high commission officials said they were alerted to the latest incident and they were looking into it.