'Vampire' convict dies in Bolivia

Amero was serving his term in a maximum security jail

American who called himself after a fictional vampire and who was serving 30 years for fatal bombings in La Paz has died, Bolivian officials say.

Triston Jay Amero, 26, was sentenced in January for the March 2006 blasts in which two people died.

A prison official said Amero had complained of stomach pains and was taken to hospital, where he died.

He went by the name Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo, derived from the vampire novels by US author Anne Rice.

Amero, originally from California, had been convicted of carrying out the attacks with his Uruguayan ex-girlfriend, Alda Ribeiro Costa, 47, who was also jailed for the maximum 30-year term.

He was serving his sentence in the Chonchocoro maximum security prison.

A post-mortem was being performed, prison officials said.

Amero and Costa were arrested immediately after the blasts at the low-budget hotels, which took place hours apart on 21 March 2006.

The explosions caused extensive damage and killed a young man and young woman.

According to the Associated Press, Amero passed himself off as a Saudi Arabian lawyer, a pagan high priest, a notary public and a vampire during earlier travels around South America.

He had a history of mental illness and had been jailed on several occasions, AP reported.