Colombo, Aug 7 (DPA) Kumaran Pathmanathan, the new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel movement, has been arrested and is being questioned, Sri Lankan defence ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Friday.

He said Pathmanathan, also known as KP or Selvaras, was arrested Thursday in a country in the 'Asian region', but declined to name the country, saying that it would hamper the investigation.

Earlier reports said the newly-designated rebel leader was arrested in Thailand, but the Sri Lankan High Commission in Bangkok denied the report.

Thai police said he was arrested in Singapore and only transited through Bangkok early Friday en route to Colombo. Other reports suggested he was nabbed in Malaysia.

However, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs, denied its involvement in the arrest.

'There is no basis to the claim in media reports that the LTTE leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan has been captured in Singapore,' a ministry official said.

'After the LTTE was crushed they hoped that the movement could be revived with the emergence of Pathmanathan, but we have proved that we have the capability of getting to them wherever they emerge,' Rambukwella said.

Remnants of the Tamil rebel movement appointed Pathmanathan as their leader last month after they were defeated by the Sri Lankan Army and the previous rebel commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in battle May 18.

'There were some doubts about the government's achievements of crushing the LTTE after Pathmanathan surfaced.