Six Tibetans set themselves ablaze in China: Govt-in-exile

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Six Tibetans, including three teenage monks, set themselves ablaze in different parts of Tibet in the past 24 hours, the Tibetan government-in-exile said on Thursday.

In a statement here, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) claimed six Tibetans, including three teenage monks of Ngoshul monastery, had immolated themselves in Tibet since Wednesday.

The total self-immolations in Tibet have reached 69, out of which 54 have died, the statement said.

Earlier in the day, Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Pempa Tsering, confirmed five Tibetans
setting themselves ablaze.

"Five more Tibetans set themselves ablaze in the past 24 hours in the different parts of Tibet," Tsering said.

Tibetan PM-in-exile Lobsang Sangay, who earlier in the day had participated in a prayer session here to pay homage to a Tibetan who had also self-immolated himself, said it was high time China realises that the Tibetan issue could be solved peacefully.

"We have been in-exile for the last 63 years and we lost our country for the last 63 years and in that sense 63 Tibetans have self immolated of which 42 have died," Sangay said before the fresh toll was released.

Setting themselves ablaze to protest Chinese regime in Tibet have occurred regularly since March 2011, however it is for the first time when a large number of self-immolations have happened on the same day.