Two more Tibetans killed in new Sichuan province clashes | WPN World People News

Two Tibetans were killed and several wounded when a mob attacked Chinese security forces in Seda county in Sichuan province, which borders Tibet.

A mob attacked a police station in Seda and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them, official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday.

One rioter was killed and another injured, while 13 people have been arrested on charges of rioting, the news agency added.

The UK based activist group Free Tibet however said two Tibetans were killed and several more were wounded Tuesday when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county, which is under curfew, according to local sources.

The Seda county is yet another area after Luhuo and Draggo counties to witness rioting.

The trigger was police firing on some 30 Tibetans sheltered in a monastery after being wounded when Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters in neighboring Luhuo county, a Tibetan monk said Tuesday.He said military forces had surrounded the building.

On Monday, at least two other protesters were killed in neighbouring Draggo county.

There are large communities of ethnic Tibetans in several parts of Sichuan province.

The counties have been tense for some time, and at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the last year demanding Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1956 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

"Chinese forces are responding with lethal force to Tibetans' ever-growing calls for freedom," Free Tibet director Stephanie Brigden said in a statement Wednesday.

Accounts of violence in the area differ and are difficult to verify as foreign media, are rarely allowed access there.

Xinhua quoted experts from the Sichuan Tibetan Research Institute as saying that the two "attacks" in Sichuan province were "premeditated and organised violence."

But Tibet campaign groups dispute this version of events and say at least two people were killed in Seda.

Free Tibet statement on Wednesday alleged that China was "responding with lethal force" to Tibetans' "calls for freedom"

The United States, which will host Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at the White House next month, has expressed grave concern at the reported violence.

U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Maria Otero urged Beijing to address "counterproductive policies" in Tibetan areas that have created tensions and threatened Tibetans' religious, cultural and linguistic identity.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington has always been clear with China about its concerns for the human rights of Tibetans and others. She said the U.S intends to convey the concerns when Xi visits next month.

British Foreign Minister Jeremy Browne in a statement said: "I urge the Chinese government to exercise restraint, to release full details of the incidents, and to work to resolve the underlying grievances."

Source: The Asia News.Net