Colombo, Aug 7 - Selvarasa Pathmanathan, who was appointed the leader of the Tamil Tigers following the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been arrested, the Sri Lankan defence ministry confirmed Friday.

Pathmanathan took over as the LTTE's leader after Prabhakaran was killed May 18 in the island's north. Prabhakaran's killing had brought the curtains down on one of the world's bloodiest ethnic conflicts that ravaged this nation.

'Most wanted LTTE terrorist for Interpol and local security divisions Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP has been taken into custody by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities,' it was reported on the defence ministry website.

'The suspect is known to be responsible for cross-border terrorist activities of Liberation Tiger of the Tamil Elam (LTTE),' it added.