Report: New Tibetan Self-Immolations in China
Three more Tibetans have set themselves on fire, with one dying, in the latest protests against Chinese rule amid a clampdown on protests, an exile group and U.S.-based broadcaster said Saturday.
London-based group Free Tibet and U.S.-backed Radio Free Asia said that three Tibetans set themselves alight Friday in a remote village in China's Sichuan province, with one dying and two others seriously injured.
In the protests "they had called for freedom for Tibet and the return of the Dalai Lama," the predominantly Buddhist region's exiled spiritual leader, Radio Free Asia quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet gave the names of the two Tibetans who were seriously injured and said they were aged around 60 and 30, but the identity of the Tibetan said to have died was unclear.
The self-immolations were reported in the village of Phuhu some 145 kilometers from Seda town, one of the areas where rights groups say Chinese forces recently killed at least three Tibetans and wounded dozens more as they opened fire on demonstrations.
At least 16 other Tibetans have set themselves alight in the past year to protest what they see as China's repression of the Himalayan territory's cultural and political rights.
China has accused Western governments and media and the Dalai Lama of exaggerating the incidents to pursue an agenda against Beijing and said that trained separatists were fomenting trouble.
Source: Agence France Presse
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