Beijing: Another Tibetan has set himself on fire while shouting slogans calling for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet, a London-based rights group said.
Free Tibet said Lhamo Kyeb, 27, died on Saturday near a monastery in northwestern China’s Gansu province.
Citing a witness, it said he set himself on fire and ran toward Bhora monastery in Xiahe county and that state security forces standing nearby ran after him and tried to put out the flames.
The witness said Lhamo Kyeb attempted to stop them from extinguishing the fire, forcing them to back away, and then he walked toward the monastery and fell to the ground.
The group said nearly 60 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 to protest Chinese rule over the Himalayan region. Calls to the county government and police rang unanswered on Sunday.
Chinese authorities routinely deny Tibetan claims of repression, although they have confirmed some self-immolations and accused supporters of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of encouraging such acts.
The Dalai Lama and representatives of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India say they oppose all violence. (AP)
