Rights group: Tibetan nun self-immolates in China

A Tibetan nun died after setting herself on fire in southwest China, the first woman known to have self-immolated in the region, a rights group said, as protests against perceived repression escalate. Tenzin Wangmo was the ninth Tibetan in Sichuan province's Aba town to set herself alight since March, when the self-immolation of a young monk at a Buddhist monastery sparked major protests that led to a government clampdown. The group, Free Tibet, said more Tibetans were willing to sacrifice their lives to protest what they say is religious repression, and there were reports of local people distributing letters calling for a day of action on Wednesday. Local residents contacted by AFP said they had heard about the death of the 20-year-old nun, who Free Tibet said called for religious freedom in Tibet and for the return of the Dalai Lama as she set fire to herself on Monday. Her death came a day after security forces shot and wounded two Tibetans during a weekend protest in another part of Sichuan, which is home to a large population of ethnic Tibetans, the London-based group said. "(Local information) suggests there are more who are willing to give their lives determined to draw global attention to the persistent and brutal violations Tibetans suffer under Chinese occupation," the organisation said in a statement. "The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing." Many Tibetans in China are angry about what they see as growing domination by the country's majority Han ethnic group, and Aba's Kirti monastery has become a flashpoint for the mounting anger at the erosion of their culture.  China says that Tibetan living standards have improved markedly over the years, thanks to billions of dollars in Chinese investment. The death in March of a young monk at Kirti named Phuntsog, who set himself on fire on the third anniversary of anti-government unrest in the area, sparked protests and the monastery was sealed off by police. Aba local government officials contacted by telephone said they had no knowledge of the latest self-immolation, while a police officer told AFP: "I don't have the right to talk about this." But a woman contacted at a local hotel said she had heard about the incident, without giving any further information. Free Tibet identified the two Tibetans who were shot on Sunday as Dawa and Druklo and said one was shot in the leg, the other in the torso, in Sichuan's Ganzi prefecture. Police in Ganzi told AFP they had no information about the protest, which reports from the northern Indian town of Dharamshala -- home to a large population of Tibetan exiles -- said took place at a local government office. "The two Tibetans shot... were bystanders at the time of the protests who intervened when Chinese police tried to arrest the seven protesters," Tenzin Wangchuk, editor of the Dharamshala-based Tibet Express website told AFP, citing witnesses. Phuntsog was the second monk at Kirti to set himself on fire since the anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa of March 2008, the bloodiest in Tibet in 20 years. China's official Xinhua news agency said he was just 16 years old at the time of his death, though reports at the time varied and rights groups put his age at 20 or 21. The number of monks at the monastery has fallen to about 600 from 2,500 in March due to "compulsory patriotic re-education, detentions and expulsions," Free Tibet has said previously, citing sources in the region. Last month, China jailed three monks for between 10 and 13 years for helping Phuntsog burn himself to death, raising criticism from the United States and rights groups.