Uncertainty surrounding the fate of Velupillai Prabakharan, the leader of the Tamil Tigers, deepened last night after a statement purporting to be from the rebels admitted that he was dead.

The statement, seen by The Times, appeared to be signed by Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers’ head of international relations.

Sources close to the rebels said, however, they could not confirm that it was genuine.

Mr Pathmanathan, who is believed to be in hiding in South-East Asia and who said last Tuesday that Prabakharan was alive, was not available for comment. Tamilnet, the website that usually acts as the rebels’ mouthpiece, did not carry the statement.

The BBC quoted Mr Pathmanathan as confirming the announcement in a telephone interview, but the sources close to the Tigers, and some Tamil MPs, remained unconvinced.

“We announce today with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts that our incomparable leader, the supreme commander of the LTTE, attained martyrdom fighting the Sri Lankan Government,” the statement said.

The Government said that its forces killed Prabakharan last Monday, then broadcast images aparently of his corpse, but rumours of his survival continued to swirl.

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