Bolivia’s government has rejected claims by former president Evo Morales that it ordered a targeted attack on him.

Morales says his car came under sustained gunfire Sunday night in the Cochabamba region, in what he condemned as an attempt on his life.

But Bolivia’s interior minister, Eduardo del Castillo, said the former president’s convoy fled an anti-drug patrol, during which his security team fired at police and hit an officer.

Evo Morales is engaged in a power struggle with President Luis Arce over who should be the candidate of the Movement for Socialism (Mas) party in next year’s elections.