A mountain climber who witnessed the shooting by Chinese troops of Tibetan refugees trying to cross the border into Nepal has posted photos of the incident online. See also “British climber describes fatal attack on Tibetans” from Reuters, and more recent news on the topic.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has given a statement on the incident, declaring that the soldiers were acting in self-defense. From AP:
The official Xinhua News Agency said the clash occurred on Sept. 30 ” the same day that foreign climbers and human rights groups allege that Chinese border guards opened fire on dozens of unarmed Tibetan refugees as they tried to flee Chinese-ruled Tibet, killing at least one. The different accounts appeared to be about the same incident.
The Xinhua report said that the people trying to cross the border attacked the soldiers, who were then “forced to defend themselves.” It did not say if the people trying to cross the border were Tibetan, whether they were armed, or give other details. [Full text]
See photos of the incident by climbers on MountEverest.net.
According to a report on MountEverest.net:
Romanian climber Sergiu Matei, reported,”The Chinese militias were hunting Tibetans onto the glacier…shooting them like rats, dogs, rabbits – you name it.” Sergiu said that bodies were buried on the glacier in the presence of a lot of climbers, and other people, “like if there was no one there to see it.” [Full text]
