A Brazilian government official who spent more than a decade working to protect indigenous people in the Amazon from loggers, miners and other threats to their way of life has been killed.

Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was shot twice in the head in front of his family in an apparent execution, according to a union that represents such workers.

Mr Santos had spent more than 12 years working for Funai, the National Indian Foundation, which is a Brazilian government body that defends the interests of indigenous people.

He was reportedly shot while riding a motorbike down a main street of Tabatinga, located deep in the Amazon rainforest on Brazil’s border with Colombia and Peru.

Officials at INA, a union that represents Funai workers, claimed Mr Santos was killed in retaliation for work at the Vale do Javari reservation, which has the world’s highest concentration of uncontacted indigenous tribes.