- Rock-wielding Tibetan separatists who attacked police stations are responsible for sparking last week's deadly violence in Sichuan, the Chinese government said Wednesday in its first detailed account of the unrest.
- The government-run China Daily newspaper quoted extensively from a Sichuan government statement that said two Tibetan rioters were killed and 24 police and firefighters were injured in two clashes.
- The account differs from those of Tibetan support groups outside the country who say police fired on protesters in three separate areas, killing at least six Tibetans.
For the past year, self-immolations have become a striking form of protest in the region. At least 16 monks, nuns and former clergy set themselves on fire after chanting for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
