ASUNCION: President Fernando Lugo sacked the commander of Paraguay's armed forces, two days after firing a trio of top military commanders amid rumours of a potential coup, government sources said Friday.

Lugo, a former Catholic bishop who assumed office in August 2008, sacked Rear Admiral Ciber Benitez. He will be replaced by General Juan Oscar Velazquez, a former army commander and a Lugo confidant, an official statement said.

Lugo fired his army, navy and air force commanders on Wednesday, a day after claiming there were "pockets of coup-plotters" in the armed forces.

Opponents accuse Lugo of styling himself after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in his focus on helping the poor in this land-locked South American country.

Lugo's opponents in Congress are hoping to gather a two-thirds majority to remove him from office under the constitution.

Opponents say that Lugo has been incompetent in failing to focus on a crime wave that includes kidnappings and robbery, as well as administrative improprieties.

Lugo's support base has been eroding under a growing scandal in which three women claim he fathered their children while he was a priest. In May, he admitted responsibility for one of the children.

Benitez, who was to retire in December, on Thursday denied that a coup was brewing.

Democracy was restored in Paraguay only in 1989, at the end of the 35-year dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner.