Irish meet Bolivians over death

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Irish diplomats have met Bolivian police to try and establish how an Irishman was killed in a raid on a group of "assassins".

The Bolivian authorities said Michael Martin Dwyer, 24, was one of three men killed when police foiled an alleged plot to kill president Evo Morales.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is working to repatriate his body.

In a statement, his family said they were devastated by the death of the 24-year-old from Ballinderry, Tipperary.

They said they were grateful for the support, love and prayers of their wider family, friends and their local community.

The Republic of Ireland has no embassy in Bolivia and an official from the Irish embassy in Argentina has travelled to La Paz.

Graphic images of Mr Dwyer were published in the Bolivian press.

Confusion surrounds the precise nature of events surrounding the shooting, which led to the death of the graduate of construction management from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology.

Local Tipperary Fine Gael councillor Ger Darcy said the close-knit rural community had been stunned by the news.

Police say Bolivian president Evo Morales was the target of the plot

"There is complete shock. It's bad enough to lose a son or a daughter without it being under these circumstances," he said.

A page on a social networking site which belonged to Mr Dwyer has been taken down.

On another social networking site he is listed as a friend of one of the other dead men, Eduardo Rozsa Flores.

Tributes have been left on the site by friends and family.

On one of the sites he listed among his interests, pistol shooting and airsoft, a plastic-pellet firing combat game. He is pictured wearing combat fatigues.

Three men, including Mr Dwyer, died and two others were arrested in the eastern city of Santa Cruz after police fought a gun battle with what Bolivian authorities described as a "mercenary gang".

Police said two of the five fought for Croatian independence after the break-up of former Yugoslavia. The three others are said to be Irish, Romanian and Hungarian.

The gun battle took place in Santa Cruz, an eastern Bolivian city and hub of anti-Morales sentiment.