Brigadier Kapila Hendavitharan sent in his early retirement papers to army chief Shantha Kottegoda who is yet to take a decision on allowing the head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) to quit, the sources said.

Neither men were immediately available for comment, but the move follows Tamil Tiger allegations that the DMI provided support to the breakaway Tiger leader V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna.

Karuna led an unprecedented split in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in March and went underground five weeks later, disbanding some 5,000 to 6,000 fighters, after an onslaught by the guerrilla leadership.

The main Tiger group has been trying to track down Karuna and has killed dozens of his loyalists. The rebels have accused the government of hampering peace moves through its alleged backing of Karuna.

The government had denied officially-sanctioned military support to the Karuna faction, but admitted that several officers may have been acting on their own.

Sri Lanka's peace broker Norway has said the internecine Tiger clashes were a serious threat to the fragile peace process which has been on hold since April last year.

More than 60,000 people have died in the Tigers' three-decade campaign to create a separate homeland for the island's Tamil minority.

WAR.WIRE