Bogota - Colombian military authorities on Wednesday denied that one of the leaders of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) died in combat in recent days. Colombian Military Forces Commander Freddy Padilla denied the reports and stressed that rumours originated in Venezuelan media reports and not in a Colombian Army informant.
"That version is unfounded," Padilla said. "With the investigations that we have carried out, we conclude that this version is not true."
Hours earlier, President Alvaro Uribe had called upon the country's security forces to investigate reports to that effect.
According to various Colombian media, an alleged informant of the Army said a top FARC boss died near the border with Venezuela - it wasn't clear on which side - in clashes with Colombian or Venezuelan troops.
Ivan Marquez and Timoleon Jimenez, two members of the seven-member FARC leadership, are believed to be active in the area.
"I have no information on that, we are going to investigate it," Uribe told reporters in Cali.
Marquez met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in November in Caracas, when Chavez was charged with mediating between the rebels and the Colombian government in search of an exchange of hostages held by the rebels for imprisoned members of FARC.
Jimenez was in charge of confirming in a video the death of FARC founder and top boss Manuel Marulanda Velez of a heart attack on March 26.
FARC have suffered severe blows at the hands of Colombian forces in recent months.
On March 1, the rebel group's second-in-command, Raul Reyes, was killed in a controversial raid by Colombian forces on Ecuadorian territory.
Two days later, FARC boss Ivan Rios was killed by a subordinate who then turned himself in to the Army and received the reward promised for the rebel leader.
The deaths of Marulanda Velez, Reyes and Rios forced FARC to modify its leadership significantly in a short time. The group is now led by former student leader Alfonso Cano.
