Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tamil Tiger rebels’ new leader, has been arrested. Sri Lanka’s defence minister said that Mr Pathmanathan, better known as KP, was detained in Thailand, where he had been residing for many years.

He took over the leadership of the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after their defeat in May by Sri Lankan security forces. Mr Pathmanathan was wanted on two Interpol warrants. There has been no comment yet from the rebels on the arrest of Mr Pathmanathan.

Mr Pathmanathan was widely believed to be running the LTTE’s arms and smuggling networks for years. But he took over the leadership of the LTTE after the former head, Velupillai Pirabhakaran, and his top commanders were killed during the military offensive in north-eastern Sri Lanka in May.