Tibet: China Calls Himalaya Border Shooting Self-Defense
Reuters[Thursday, October 12, 2006 20:36] BEIJING - Chinese troops fired on about 70 people near the country's mountain frontier with Nepal, and one of them died, Chinese state media said on Thursday, partly confirming earlier reports but defending the shooting.
The official Xinhua news agency said the people were attempting to cross illegally from
The troops tried to persuade the people to return home, but they "refused and attacked the soldiers", the report said.
"The frontier soldiers were forced to defend themselves and injured two," the report said, citing an unnamed Chinese official.
One of the injured died later in hospital "due to oxygen shortage", the report said. Another was in hospital. Xinhua did not say whether the civilians carried guns or other weapons.
This first official Chinese confirmation of the border incident appeared hours after a Foreign Ministry spokesman said he could not verify foreign news reports of a border incident in the
"I've seen the reports about this, but I've no knowledge of the specific situation," ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference in
Three climbers from
Overseas Tibetan refugee groups, as well as the London-based International Campaign for
Liu, the spokesman, said it was up to
"Further investigations into the case are under way," it said. After the shooting, three soldiers escorted away at least 10 Tibetan children, aged between six and 12, and took them to a nearby Chinese camp, the
Hundreds of Tibetans cross the Himalayas to
Communist troops entered