New Tamil rebel leader arrested, returned to Sri Lanka

New Tamil rebel leader arrested, returned to Sri Lanka Colombo  - The new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel movement has been arrested in South-East Asia and is being returned to Sri Lanka for questioning, Sri Lankan military officials said Friday.

The officials said Kumaran Pathmanathan, also known as KP, was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, but Thai police said he was arrested in Singapore and only transited through Bangkok early Friday en route to Colombo.

Military officials in Sri Lanka declined to confirm reports that Pathmanathan was already in the island country but said the government was to make an official statement later in the day.

Remnants of the Tamil rebel movement appointed Pathmanathan as their leader last month after they were defeated by the Sri Lankan Army and the previous rebel commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in battle on May 18.

Pathmanathan had been known as the rebel movement's main arms procurement agent and had been operating in Thailand and other countries although his recent whereabouts had not been known.

Earlier reports out of Sri Lanka said Pathmanathan was arrested in Thailand, but a Thai government spokesman insisted Friday that he was arrested in Singapore.

Pathmanathan does have a Thai wife and in the past had often been in and out of Thailand, Panithan Wattanayagorn said.

In a statement issued last month, the LTTE rebels said they had set up a new headquarters and formed sector-based working groups and an executive committee to continue their struggle for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils. They did not say where their new headquarters was located.

The Sri Lankan government has vowed not to allow the rebel movement to rise again after it killed its entire leadership to end a 26-year-long armed conflict in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

About 10,000 rebels are said to have been arrested or surrendered to security forces, and some of them are currently undergoing rehabilitation, the government said. Others are to be charged with crimes. (dpa)