Colombo, Nov 12: The reclusive leader of the separatist Tamil tigers, who is credited with perfecting human bombs, has won his sixth black belt in karate, according to a pro-rebel newspaper. The Tamil Guardian carried a picture of Velupillai Prabhakaran wearing his black belt along with a gold medal. It did not say how and where he won the honors. South Asia's most wanted man last made a public appearance in April, 2002, after the signing of a cease-fire agreement between the government and Tiger rebels. Prior to that, he hadn't surfaced publicly since 1990.

Prabhakaran founded and leads the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group embroiled in a 19-year civil war to establish a homeland in the northeast for the country's 3.2 million Tamils. The Tamil Guardian said Prabhakaran appeared at a ceremony to honor Tamil karate grand master Shiham Bonnie Roberts, who is said to have eight black belts.

Prabhakaran, 48, has a posse of trusted cadres known as the "black Tigers", or suicide bombers.

Born in 1954 to a low-level bureaucrat, Prabhakaran was the youngest of four children. In elementary school he detonated a crude time-bomb and was subsequently suspended. He never returned. Bureau Report