(CNN) -- The No. 2 leader in a Marxist guerrilla group that has been at war with the Colombian government since the 1960s has been killed in a military raid, President Juan Manuel Santos said Thursday.
Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, also known as Jorge Briceno Suarez and by his nom de guerre Mono Jojoy, was the military leader for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly called the FARC.
Santos called the rebel leader's death a "historic" event.
"This is the biggest blow the FARC has suffered in its history," Santos said from New York, where he is participating in meetings of the United Nations General Assembly.
"To the rest of the FARC, we are going after them," Santos said. "We are not going to rest".
About 20 other guerrillas also were killed in the raid, Santos said.
The army reported that another top rebel leader, Henry Castellanos, alias Romana, was also killed but later retracted the statement. The defense ministry will wait until all of the bodies are examined before confirming whether any other leaders were killed.
"This is a day of joy," Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said. "It is a day of jubilation for Colombians".
The guerrilla leader was killed near the town of Macarena, in the southwestern Colombia state of Meta.
The final operation against Suarez started early Wednesday, Rivera said, adding that officials had spent two sleepless nights awaiting the results.
Five Colombian soldiers were wounded in the operation,which included heavy airstrikes, Rivera said at a news conference from Bogota, the nation's capital.
Rivera called Suarez the guerrilla group's "strategic heart" and said the military had captured "the mother of all FARC camps." The camp, which measured about 1,000 feet (300 meters) long, had a bunker, tunnels and escape routes, Rivera said.
The guerrilla leader's death was the FARC's second major setback in the past few days.
CNN
