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Sun October 12, 2003 02:54 PM ET

By Rene Villegas
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Five people were reported killed on Sunday after Bolivia's government sent thousands of troops backed by tanks to quell increasingly violent protests against President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

Witnesses told local radio two protesters were killed during pitched battles with troops in the poor industrial suburb of El Alto, outside the La Paz. Three more were killed when soldiers cleared nearby roadblocks choking food and petrol supplies to the capital, Catholic radio station FIDES said.

Police had no immediate comment on the clashes, which take the toll to 16 dead and dozens injured during a monthlong wave of protests against Sanchez de Lozada's free market policies and failure to tackle crushing poverty in South America's poorest nation.

Fuel and basic foods were running short in the capital as thousands of poor Bolivian farmers and workers calling for Sanchez de Lozada to quit stopped convoys of trucks entering the Andean city with roadblocks.

"A military operation is under way to regain control of El Alto," presidential spokesman Mauricio Antezana said at a pre-dawn news conference, adding the government could decree a curfew there at any time to stop what it perceived as a coup attempt by its opponents -- a charge it has made on several occasions in the past.

Witnesses said troops stood guard on the main road of El Alto, the center of recent protests against the government.

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