La Paz - A miner blew up himself and his wife Friday during a protest in centre of the Bolivian city of Oruro, local media reported. On the main square in the mining city of Oruro, 230 kilometres south-west of the capital La Paz, miners who work for cooperatives were protesting a legal complaint filed by peasants to prevent the exploitation of a tin deposit.
"The woman shouted that her husband had dynamite in his hands, she asked people to do something to prevent the explosion. But the man activated the explosive and within seconds the bodies of the couple were spread all around the square," one reporter said.
This is the second time in recent Bolivian history that a miner has killed himself on a public site. Four years ago, another miner did the same in the National Congress building.
The motive of the man was not immediately known. Police were investigating the case.
