KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Malaysian police said on Thursday they were on the lookout for elusive Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran who may have fled Sri Lanka.

The head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was reported to have escaped to either Malaysia or Thailand as the separatist group loses more of its territory day by day. "We are tightening security checkpoints at airports and along the coast," a Malaysian police official, who declined to be identified in line with policy, said. "We are not taking any chances with him, so we will be constantly monitoring."

Inspector-General Police Musa Hassan said he ordered a nationwide alert on Thursday for Prabhakaran, whose group is listed as a terrorist organisation in India, United States, Australia and the European Union.

"We are also using our local intelligence network to ascertain if he is already in the country," Musa was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Sri Lanka's Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka said at the weekend that Prabhakaran may have fled Sri Lanka. [ID:nCOL367811]

The LTTE say they are fighting to address mistreatment of minority Tamils since the Sinhalese ethnic majority took over at independence from Britain in 1948.

(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) (niki.koswanage@thomsonreuters.com; +603 2333 8035; Reuters Messaging: niki.koswanage@reuters.com@reuters.net)

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