Tibetans set fire to themselves in China

A former Tibetan monk has died and another is seriously injured after setting themselves on fire in south-west China.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a 22-year-old man set himself on fire at a crossroads in Aba prefecture in Sichuan province on Friday and was hospitalized with serious burns. It said another man burned himself to death in a hotel room on the same day. Both of the men were former monks, it said.

The London-based group Free Tibet earlier said the men were protesting tight Chinese control over Tibetan life and culture.

At least 14 monks, nuns and former monks are now believed to have set themselves on fire in the past year, mostly in traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan that have been hotbeds of opposition to central government control.

AP