New Tamil Tiger leader brought to Sri Lanka after capture in foreign country

Arrested Tamil Tiger leader in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s military says it is interrogating the new leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels after his capture in a foreign country.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested overseas and brought to Sri Lanka. He declined Friday to say where and when Pathmanathan was captured.

Pathmanathan has been sought by Interpol for smuggling arms for the Tamil Tigers.

He took over as the rebel chief after the group’s defeat in May and the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Soon after Pathmanathan said the group would use nonviolent means to seek an independent state for the island’s ethnic Tamil minority.