The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have suffered a publicity setback after their activities were condemned and their logo publicly repudiated by one of the leading chefs in the West.

London-based Jamie Oliver, who shot to global fame following the success of his books and hit television series, The Naked Chef, says he unwittingly wore a shirt bearing the LTTE logo during an episode of a new TV series, entitled Oliver's Twist.

The chef was inundated with complaints after the episode was screened in Australia.

Now, Oliver, 28, says on his Web site: "My sincerest apologies for causing any offence and thank you to all of you that have sent me emails to bring this to my attention. On an Oliver's Twist episode I am wearing a Tamil Tigers T-shirt.

"Until I received your emails I was unaware of the activities of the Tamil Tigers and it was horrible to hear about death, destruction and violence that they have done as well as recruiting and abusing young children to carry out their tactics.

"I hope that all of you realise that this was an innocent but nonetheless naive oversight."

A spokesperson for Oliver said, "It's a simple mistake on Jamie's part. He's not an expert on the Indian subcontinent and politics.

"It's a T-shirt brought back from America. There have been about 15 complaints, mostly from Australia and New Zealand."

The Tigers are notorious for suicide bombings, including Rajiv Gandhi's murder in 1991. Their bloody war of independence from Sri Lanka is believed to have claimed at least 65,000 lives since 1983.

The Oliver's Twist series consists of 26 half-hour episodes in which Oliver cooks for "all sorts of people from around the world" in his London flat.

Fresh Productions, his TV company, produced it in association with Thames Television and the US Food Network. So far it has been screened in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.