18-year-old Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in Sichuan province

Beijing, Feb 20(ANI): An eighteen-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk has self-immolated himself outside a monastery in western China after shouting slogans in favor of Tibetan independence and spiritual Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama

Around 1000 people tried to stop police from taking away Nangdrol's body away, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) revealed.

His death has taken the number of self-immolation cases by Tibetan monks to 21 in the past one-year, including one on Friday, The Telegraph reports.

The acts are among increasingly radical protests against Chinese government controls over Tibetan society and the Buddhist religion.

After Nangdrol's death, police ordered that his body be handed over to them, but monks at his Samdrup Norbu Ling monastery in Aba prefecture in Sichuan refused, the ICT said, citing Tibetan monks based in India.

The ICT further said that more than 1,000 people assembled at the monastery overnight to stand guard over the body.

Chinese security has cut off access to Tibetan areas, making it virtually impossible to independently confirm such acts. Calls to local government and Communist Party offices rang unanswered on Monday.

Meanwhile, China has accused the Dalai Lama supporters for encouraging the self-immolations and other anti-government protests that have led to the deaths of an unknown number of Tibetans at the hands of police. (ANI)