Saturday, January 8 2005 19:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Elusive Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman are among the dead or missing after last week's tsunami disaster, State radio said today (Jan 8, 2005), sparking fresh tension between Government and rebels who immediately denied the report.

The Island newspaper, meanwhile, reported today that an expensive coffin "for a top LTTE leader" had been smuggled into a northern Tiger area inside a container carrying relief for tsunami survivors.

The LTTE, in a statement posted on its official Peace Secretariat website, slammed the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for carrying the reports, saying now was "not the time for gossip mongering and malicious propaganda".

"The LTTE and the Tamil people wish to strongly protest against this mischievous act of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, stooping down to such low level of broadcasting news that is fabricated by interested parties," the statement said.

"At a time of a national catastrophe of this magnitude, it is very regrettable that a responsible media of the Government takes upon itself the job of spreading rumours and speculation that tend to create confusion in the minds of the people," it added.

The radio reports quoted a Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri as saying Prabhakaran and Amman were among those killed or missing in the tsunami.