BOLIVIAN OPPOSITION RIDICULES FAILED COUP CLAIM

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) -- Bolivian opposition politicians on Saturday
laughed off government claims of a failed coup during bloody protests this
week that killed 29 people, while a human rights group also voiced skepticism.

Government officials claimed late on Friday two days of bloody
anti-government protests had veiled a "failed coup attempt against
democracy," and said unidentified sharp-shooters fired at new President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's palace quarters.

But the government did not say who it believed was behind the alleged coup
attempt, which it claimed happened on Thursday as thousands of Bolivians
marching to demand Sanchez de Lozada resign because of unpopular fiscal
policies torched public buildings.

Opposition parties dismissed the claims out of hand, suggesting they were
aimed at diverting attention from the protests, which had begun on
Wednesday when police demanding a wage rise became embroiled in a shoot-out
with the army.

"These claims don't convince anyone, actually they are laughable," said
lawmaker Dionisio Nunez of the main opposition Socialist Movement. "No-one
is going to believe them."

Indian leader Evo Morales, who ran against Sanchez de Lozada for the
presidency last year, also dismissed the government's claims.

This weeks clashes were the latest in a series of violent protests against
the 72-year-old president, one of Washington's key anti-drug trafficking
allies who is deeply unpopular for a drive to wipe out illegal crops of
coca, the plant used to make cocaine.

Bolivia's Human Rights Assembly called for a comprehensive inquiry into the
coup claims and the clashes in which 10 police, four soldiers, a nurse and
more than a dozen civilians were killed, according to government officials.
Another 190 were injured.

Wednesday's clash between the police and soldiers came amid a bitter feud
between the two security forces that stems from a popular revolt 50 years
ago, when the police helped miners and the public to defeat the army in
street battles and overthrow the government.

However the government said it in no way suspected the police or security
forces of having a hand in the alleged failed coup.

Sanchez de Lozada was forced on Wednesday night to scrap the income tax
measures, designed to slash the fiscal deficit and win aid from the
International Monetary Fund, in a bid to defuse the protests.