Colombo, Jan 7 (DPA) The father of slain Tamil rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who led a failed 26-year armed campaign for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority, died Thursday while in military custody, an army spokesman said.

Thiruvendran Velupillai, 82, and his wife had been in military custody since they surrendered to the government after their son was killed May 18 in a battle with the army in northern Sri Lanka.

Army spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the father had been ailing for some time before he passed away but said he did not know the cause of death.

He said Prabhakaran's parents, who initially had been living in a camp for displaced people in the north, had been transferred to a military base on the outskirts of Colombo where the couple had been in "protective custody".

Prabhakaran's wife and three children also were killed by the military in the final phase of the military operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group.

The government declared victory May 19 over the rebels after the deaths of Prabhakaran and the other top rebel leaders.