LA PAZ : The tiny South American country of Bolivia was locked in crisis with the government accusing the opposition of plotting a coup amid angry anti-government protests that claimed three lives in 24 hours.

"Evo Morales and other political leaders have instigated a coup d'etat process," presidential spokesman Mauricio Antezana told a press conference late Saturday. "There are plans for military-style attacks on strategic objectives."

Antezana said the government was sending troops to quell violent protests in El Alto, a city of half a million residents 12 kilometers (seven miles) west of La Paz, where demonstrators were demanding the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

The unrest continued into the early hours of Sunday with protesters hurling rocks and sticks of dynamite at security forces who responded with tear gas and firearms.

Three people, including a five-year-old boy, were killed and 15 others wounded in escalating clashes Saturday. At least 11 people have died and dozens have been injured in the past three weeks of unrest.

The protesters oppose the planned export of natural gas to the United States via Chile under terms they say do not benefit Bolivians. They say that under current law Bolivia would get only 18 percent of the profits from the project.

The international oil companies involved in the project, Pacific LNG and Sempras, want the gas exported via a planned five-billion-dollar pipeline to the Chilean port of Patillos.

Landlocked Bolivia lost its Pacific coast territory in a war with Chile in 1879. The two nations have not had diplomatic relations since March 1978.

Morales denied the charges and said Sanchez de Lozada faces the choice of repealing current policy or stepping down. Morales is leader of Bolivia's main opposition party, Movement Toward Socialism, and represents the restive coca-growing region of Chapare in Congress.

"This conflict is fundamentally about natural gas. All Bolivian people know that the gas is in the hands of transnationals, and the only way to solve this problem is for Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to guarantee the return of gas and hydrocarbons to Bolivians," he added.

"If he cannot return the gas to Bolivians, then Sanchez de Lozada has no other choice but to go and make way for constitutional succession," he added.

Morales said the government was planning to seize greater power and named deputy defense minister Raul Lopez Leyton as a key figure in the plot.

Social unrest has raged for three weeks in various parts of Bolivia, with roadblocks in rural regions and street protests in several towns and cities.

In El Alto early Sunday, security forces and protesters were battling for control of the main roadway between La Paz and El Alto, where the international airport and a fuel plant are located.

"The soldiers are firing on us!" "There are lots of dead and injured!" said panicked witnesses in phone calls to local radio stations. Machine gun fire was audible in the background.

The Archbishop of El Alto, Monsignor Jesus Juarez, called for an end to violence and "respect for life." "Peoples' rights are being violated," he lamented.

For his part Sanchez de Lozada called an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday after seven police officers were arrested for organizing a riot. He later announced he was willing to meet with opposition leaders in an effort to restore calm to the country.

- AFP