Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today refused to confirm whether a captured Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel leader was detained on Malaysian soil.

NONE The defeated rebels have demanded answers from Malaysia on what they describe as the "abduction" last week of their new leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan ( left ).

Officials in Colombo have declined to say how Pathmanathan was detained, but the Thai government said he was arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday and transferred to Sri Lanka through Bangkok.

However, Najib refused to confirm whether he was arrested here, or address rumours that Sri Lankan military personnel were involved in Pathmanathan's capture.

"I do not know. I do not have the facts," he told reporters.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a senior Tiger, said in an emailed statement that Malaysia must release details on the case.

"If the government of Malaysia does not have any information on the matter, we demand an inquiry to the whole episode,," he said.

Pathmanathan, who took over as head of the Tamil Tigers after its founding chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the final stages of fighting in May, was trying to revive the rebel group from overseas, the group has said.

A Sri Lankan defence ministry spokesman said last week that Pathmanathan was being interrogated in Sri Lanka, but declined to explain how he had been detained.

Pathmanathan is wanted by Interpol on gun-running charges and by the Indian government in connection with the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by a Tamil suicide bomber in 1991.

He was thought to have fled to Malaysia from Thailand two years ago.

-AFP