Washington - An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale struck in the Indian Ocean, prompting the US government to issue a tsunami warning Monday for South and Southeast Asia.

The earthquake was centred about 262 kilometres north of India's Andaman Islands and took place at 1956 GMT, the US Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado, reported. It struck in the early Tuesday morning hours local time.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issued a tsunami watch for Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand, saying the earthquake was strong enough to produce a tsunami along coastlines within 1,000 kilometres of its epicentre.(dpa)