Bombing in Bolivia kills 2; police arrest 2

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- An American man and his Uruguayan girlfriend were arrested Wednesday after bombs severely damaged two low-budget hotels in Bolivia's capital, killing two people and injuring at least seven.
Police said they thought the pair had "religious motives" for the attack and had plans to bomb the Chilean consulate in La Paz on Saturday, according to Issac Pemintel, the national police chief.
Police initially said the blasts were "typical of terrorist crime," and President Evo Morales lost no time in denouncing them as an attack on Bolivia's democracy.
"This American was putting bombs in hotels," Morales said. "The U.S. government fights terrorism, and they send us terrorists."
But other Bolivian officials discounted terrorism as a motive, saying the American appeared to be mentally ill. "The possible motives behind these attacks are incomprehensible. There don't seem to be any concrete objectives other than causing deaths," Deputy Interior Minister Rafael Puente told Radio Fides.
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