Bogota  - A bombing of a rebel camp by the Colombian Air Force left 30 to 40 people dead, Oscar Barreto, the governor of the Colombian province of Tolima, said Friday.

Late Thursday, media reports had said some 40 rebels of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed near the town of Planadas, in the centre-western Colombian province of Tolima.

Military spokesmen said the Army entered the area following the bombing and found six dead rebels and an injured man.

The attack took place in a remote area known as Las Hermosas Canyon, where intelligence information has said for years that FARC boss Alfonso Cano is active.

There was no official report from the Defence Ministry, while Colombian President Alvaro Uribe only told reporters that the attack was "extremely important."

Colombian Armed Forces Commander Freddy Padilla said last week the authorities found the dead bodies of 16 rebels in a mass grave near the town of La Uribe, in the central province of Meta. They were apparently killed in an Air Force bombing earlier this year.

FARC have been fighting the central government in Colombia for over four decades. The group - which largely finances itself through drug trafficking - has come under increasing government pressure in the last decade.  dpa