LTTE names new leader

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s defeated Tamil Tiger rebels have named a man accused of running a vast arms smuggling operation as their new leader, two months after government forces crushed the separatist movement.

The new leader has pledged to remake the insurgents into a non-violent separatist movement.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan was the rebels’ chief of international relations and allegedly ran an international weapons smuggling ring.

The Sri Lankan government has appealed to foreign governments to find and arrest him.