Tibet shocked by increase in monks setting themselves on fire

Source Credit: The Telegraph

Four Tibetans from a monastery in western China have succumbed to their injuries after setting themselves on fire, the Tibetan government-in-exile has claimed.

A series of self-immolations this year has shocked Tibet, with seven monks, or former monks, now having set themselves on fire.

In the last fortnight alone there have been five cases in the town of Aba, the site of an important monastery.

The Tibetan parliament, based in Dharamsala, blamed the suicide cluster on a "deteriorating situation" in Tibet and said that the victims had found "China's occupation and repression intolerable".

It said four of the seven monks had died, including Kaying, 18, and Choephel, 19, who had left the Kirti monastery and were dressed in laymen's clothes when they set themselves on fire last week. It said the condition of the other three men is "still unknown".

The claim contradicts reports in the official Chinese media, which said that four of the monks are being treated for "light wounds".