Update: Two Tibetan teens the latest to self-immolate

Photo via Tibet Post International

The Tibetan self-immolation phenomenon continues with two new casualties. (We had originally reported one of these this morning; this story has been updated.)

Over the weekend, word came that an 18-year-old nun by the name Tenzin Choedon is one of the latest Tibetans to self-immolate in protest of Chinese oppression in Tibet. A nun at Mamae nunnery in Ngaba County, the reports state that she shouted in protest of Chinese rule in Tibet and called for the Dalai Lama's return before self-immolating near the nunnery on the evening of February 11. She is the 23rd Tibetan to self-immolate since February 2009.

According to Tibet Post International, "Sources revealed that she did not succumb to her injuries immediately and that the Chinese soldiers and police in the vicinity took her towards Barkham. Her whereabouts from then on are unavailable."

Voice of America is also reporting that a monk, 19 year-old Tibetan monk Lobsang Gyatso of Ngaba County, has self-immolated Monday, the 24th to do so in protest of Chinese rule in Tibet since 2009. Lobsang, a monk of Kirti monastery, reportedly self-immolated after shouting in protest of Chinese oppression. Eyewitness accounts report that Chinese forces immediately put out his flames and whisked him away; his current whereabouts are unknown.

According to Free Tibet, "Locals report that extra security personnel have been deployed to checkpoints around Ngaba Town and that people are being searched."

For more on the self immolation phenomenon, read Buddhadharma's past coverage, and don't miss Robert Thurman's commentary on the immolation phenomenon from the new, Spring 2012 Buddhadharma — we've made the entire commentary available online.

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