Around 130 people have been confirmed killed in a Chinese crackdown on protests and unrest in Tibet, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan governmentin-exile said on Monday.
"This figure is from our sources in Tibet. The verifiable number is about 130 in entire Tibet," Samdhong Rinpoche said in Dharamshala in northern India, the base of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
The new toll is a jump from the figure of 99 confirmed deaths provided by the government-in-exile last week.
"These are not necessarily new casualties. This could be information that we could not get before," Mr Rinpoche said, adding that the numbers also included fatalities from Tibetan areas in provinces such as Gansu and Sichuan.
"We are afraid the number could go up when we get more information from remote areas," he said. China has released different figures on the number of dead.
On Saturday, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said, Tibetan rioters killed 18 "innocent" civilians and one police officer during protests against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region's capital of Lhasa.
Protests, which began two weeks ago on the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, erupted into deadly violence in Lhasa on March 14.
Riots then spread into other parts of China with significant ethnic Tibetan populations, marking the biggest challenge to Chinese control of the Himalayan region in two decades.
Around 130 people have been confirmed killed in a Chinese crackdown on protests and unrest in Tibet, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government- in-exile said on Monday. "This figure is from our sources in Tibet. The verifiable number is about 130 in entire Tibet," Samdhong Rinpoche said in Dharamshala in northern India, the base of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The new toll is a jump from the figure of 99 confirmed deaths provided by the government-in-exile last week. "These are not necessarily new casualties. This could be information that we could not get before," Mr Rinpoche said, adding that the numbers also included fatalities from Tibetan areas in provinces such as Gansu and Sichuan. "We are afraid the number could go up when we get more information from remote areas," he said. China has released different figures on the number of dead. On Saturday, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said, Tibetan rioters killed 18 "innocent" civilians and one police officer during protests against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region's capital of Lhasa. Protests, which began two weeks ago on the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, erupted into deadly violence in Lhasa on March 14. Riots then spread into other parts of China with significant ethnic Tibetan populations, marking the biggest challenge to Chinese control of the Himalayan region in two decades.
http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle/ArticleText.aspx?article=25_03_2008_010_005
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