A German tourist has accused two men of taking her captive and raping her in southern India, police said Monday, just weeks after the rape and murder of an Irish woman in Goa.

The woman told police two men dragged her to a secluded spot from a private beach resort in the southern tourist town of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu state and raped her on Sunday.

"We have registered a sexual assault complaint and a manhunt has been launched to track the attackers," the district police chief Santosh told AFP. "We are questioning suspects but no arrests have been made yet."

He said medical tests had confirmed sexual assault and the German embassy had been informed.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Foreign Office told AFP by email that its consul-general in the state capital Chennai was in close contact with local authorities about the incident.

It comes barely three weeks after a 28-year-old Irish woman was raped and murdered in the popular tourist state of Goa.

Danielle McLaughlin's naked body was discovered in a field near a beach on March 16, with injuries all over her body. Police have arrested a local man for her rape and murder.

Many Western countries warn visitors about the risk of such attacks in India, where levels of sexual violence are relatively high.

A 35-year-old Japanese tourist was raped in southern India last December and in 2014, a Danish woman was gang-raped in New Delhi after she became lost and asked for directions to her hotel.

Five men were sentenced to life imprisonment last June over that attack.

India faced international scrutiny over levels of violence against women following the fatal gang-rape of a medical student in New Delhi in December 2012.-AFP