Colombian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Manuel Marulanda, the creator and top leader of a major rebel group FARC, has died from heart attack.

Earlier on the day, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a weekly magazine that Marulanda may have died on March 26, and the ministry later announced the information in a formal statement.

Santos was cited as saying that the top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) died from a heart attack on March 26, when he was targeted three times by the government forces in bombing raids.

However, both the FARC and the Colombian military have not yet commented on the information.

Marulanda, aged 80, has been leading the FARC in the past 40 years. The rebel leader was elusive and rarely accept interview requests from the media.

Since the beginning of this year, the FARC has received several heavy blows. Its No.2 leader Raul Reyes was killed in a bombing raid on his camp in Ecuador in March.

His death was followed by the assassination days later of another commander of the rebel group, killed by one of his bodyguards.

In May, a female rebel leader who was know as "Karina" surrendered to the government.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2008)