LA PAZ, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was beaten to death by striking miners demanding changes to laws, local media reported Thursday.

The government said earlier that the deputy minister had been kidnapped, but there has been no official confirmation on his death.

His death has not been confirmed officially. "We still have not confirmed the situation of this official, if he is alive or deceased," Bolivian state prosecutor Ramiro Guerrero said in broadcast comments from a news conference in Sucre on Thursday evening.

However, the government has said that the 56-year-old Illanes had been kidnapped and was at risk of being tortured after he went to talk to protesters earlier on Thursday in Panduro, around 160 km (100 miles) from capital La Paz.