Chinese Cop Killed in Tibet Protest

A Chinese policeman has been killed in a confrontation with Tibetan demonstrators in Sichuan, as unrest continues despite Beijing's massive deployment of forces. Several other officers and protesters were wounded in the clash yesterday as activists called for an independent Tibet. But an absence of independent journalists in the area makes it difficult to piece together an accurate account, Reuters reports.

State-run media reported that the policeman died at the hands of a mob armed with stones and knives. A Tibetan exile group said that an 18-year-old Tibetan monk was killed and another critically wounded when the police fired on a crowd of 200 locals. In Tibet's capital, Lhasa, 13 people were arrested yesterday for an earlier monk-led protest.