COLOMBO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan government here Friday officially announced the arrest of the new leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

    A senior defense official said KP alias Kumaran Pathmanathan had been arrested at a foreign land.

    Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman said KP was brought to Colombo Thursday and investigations have begun.

    KP was known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels' international arms buying agent and served as its head of international relations.

    With the killing of the LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabakaran in May, KP had declared him Prabakaran's successor.

    In June, the crushed rebel outfit announced a transnational government in exile to carry out the LTTE's struggle for a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community.

    The 54-year-old KP was wanted by Interpol and the Indian government for the 1991 assassination of the former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.