Tamil Tigers' new leader arrested

Published on Friday 7 August 2009 19:41

SRI Lankan authorities questioned the new leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday, after he was arrested in south-east Asia and flown to the island nation.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers' former chief arms smuggler, assumed the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after government forces routed the rebels in May in northern Sri Lanka and killed their revered leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Pathmanathan was believed to be based in south-east Asia in recent years and was one of the few rebel leaders to survive the offensive that demolished the separatists' shadow state and ended the 25-year civil war.

But as Pathmanathan, known by his nom de guerre, KP, worked to revive the Tigers, the government pushed for his arrest.

The rebels said in a statement that he was arrested on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

Sri Lanka's Island newspaper, quoting anonymous sources, said Pathmanathan had been captured in Thailand.

A Thai government spokesman denied he was arrested there, but said there were "reports he has been travelling in and out of Thailand". A Thai military intelligence official said the rebel leader had been hiding in northern Thailand under a false identity in recent months.

Sri Lankan defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella refused to provide details of the capture of Pathmanathan – who was wanted by Interpol – saying only that "he was arrested within the Asian region" and was being questioned in Sri Lanka.

The arrest was expected to give President Mahinda Rajapaksa a boost ahead of local government elections today near the rebels' former heartland.