Bogota, Nov 5 (IANS): Alfonso Cano, a top commander of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who carried a $5 million reward, has been killed by security forces, the Colombian government has announced.

Cano was killed Friday in jungles near Suarez city in the southwestern Cauca province, the defence ministry said.

Cauca Governor Alberto Gonzalez also confirmed Cano's death, telling a radio station that he died in the western part of the province, reported Xinhua.

A $5 million reward had been offered for the capture of Cano, who took over the leadership of the FARC after its founder died in 2008.

Cano's death was another major victory for the Colombian government in its fight against the FARC guerrillas, whose military chief Mono Jojoy was killed last year.

Last month, another key member of FARC, Jose Neftali Umenza, who was handling most of FARC's drug-trafficking business in the Pacific area, died in an explosion in a rural part of the Buenaventura port city in southwestern Colombia.

FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, has been at war with the government since its establishment in 1964.