Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels defeated by the government troops would never be able to regroup, a local radio station quoted defense officials as saying on Sunday.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman was quoted by the radio station Sri FM that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would not be left any room by the authorities to regroup in order to revert to their campaign for a separate state.

Nanayakkara was referring to the statements made by different individuals from outside Sri Lanka laying claims for the group's leadership after the death of the rebel leader Velupillai Prabakaran.

"People like KP (Kumaran Pathmanathan) can make statements but we will not be bothered by them," Nanayakkara said.

He said individuals are claiming leadership due to the large amounts of money that the rebel group held as a result of Tamil diaspora funding them prior to Prabakaran's death.

The rebel leader was found dead by the military on May 19, ending the LTTE's three-decade-old armed struggle.

KP, the arms procurer for the rebels has claimed leadership of the organization with another claiming to be the international intelligence wing member of the group contradicting KP.

President Mahinda Rajapakse's government has launched a development drive in the north since the rebel defeat while pledging to implement political power sharing with the Tamil dominated areas.

Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese dominated governments, the LTTE began to fight for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east in the 1980s, resulting in the killing of about 100,000 people.

Source:Xinhua