A breakaway leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebel group has been arrested in Britain.
The UK interior ministry said Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, also known as Colonel Karuna, was detained in a joint operation by police and immigration officials in London.
"He is now being held in immigration detention (and) it would not be appropriate to comment further," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Karuna, a former eastern commander of the Tamil Tigers, split from the main movement in 2004, taking an estimated 6,000 fighters with him.
The ministry gave no details of where or when Karuna was arrested or what would happen to him.
Rights abuses
A Tiger offensive recaptured his territory and he was said to have fled to government controlled parts of Sri Lanka.
His group now controls large sections of the east of the country and has been accused of abductions, killings and other human rights abuses.
Diplomats and analysts say Colombo was using Karuna as part of its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers, who aim to carve out an independent homeland for the island's Tamil minority.
Sri Lanka's government denies backing Karuna's fighters.
A 2002 ceasefire collapsed last year, with the island now back in a two decade long conflict that has already killed about 70,000 people.