Twin bomb blasts in Bolivian hotels kill two

LA PAZ, Bolivia, Mar 22 (Reuters) Bomb blasts rocked two small hotels in the center of the Bolivian city of La Paz, killing two people, and officials today said they had arrested two foreign suspects.

La Paz prosecutor Jorge Gutierrez said the pair, apparently a Uruguayan and an American, were arrested in the early hours of the morning in the city of El Alto, which borders La Paz, soon after the second blast.

''Both were carrying cartridges of dynamite and detonators.

The woman is Uruguayan and the man says he is from the United States. We are gathering information from immigration to establish when they entered the country,'' he told reporters.

A witness to the second blast, which took place at 1120 HRS in a hotel near the main bus station, said police evacuated the building moments before the explosion.

''There was a massive explosion and the building was practically destroyed,'' the man, a hotel guest, told Reuters by telephone. He asked not to be named.

The first explosion happened several hours earlier at another small hotel, killing two people and wounding four, firefighters said. The victims have not yet been identified.

''The charge was strong and it has still not been determined what type of explosive was put in room 50 of the guesthouse,'' said city fire chief Oscar Nina.

REUTERS DKS RS1900