Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was injured last month during an aerial raid by Sri Lankan Air Force jets, the government confirmed on Wednesday night.
"Intelligence sources confirmed that the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran had sustained injuries in the air strikes carried out by four fighter aircraft of the Sri Lanka Air Force on a bunker complex in Jayanthinagar, Kilinochchi around 5.25 pm on November 26," the defence ministry said.
Intelligence had confirmed that the bunker complex was frequented by Prabhakaran, the ministry said.
"Acting on reliable intelligence, the air force carried out a successful air strike targeting the leader of the LTTE, on November 26," it said.
Attack aircraft of the air force carried out another air strike on the same target on November 28, the ministry said.
The air force confirms that the target was successfully destroyed amidst heavy LTTE ground to air fire towards the Sri Lanka Air Force aircraft," the defence ministry said in a statement.
It said subsequent to the attack, the air force monitored movements around the target.
Though the air force believed that Prabhakaran had been hit in the attack, non-availability of ground information to confirm it at that time prevented the government from releasing this information to the media, the ministry said.
The Nation newspaper on Sunday had reported that Prabhakaran sustained injuries during an air raid in rebel held areas of Kilinochchi on November 28. However, the LTTE had strongly denied it.
"It is a lie. Nothing of that sort happened," an LTTE spokesman had said, reacting to the report.
Earlier last month, the Tamil rebel's political head S P Thamilselvan was killed in an air force raid.