Beijing: China today declared a "people's war" to crush the most virulent monk-led protests against its rule in Tibet in two decades that has brought Beijing under scanner ahead of the Olympics here as troops kept a tight vigil in the riot-scarred capital city of Lhasa.

No fresh outbreak of violence was reported by authorities in Lhasa which came under the vice-like grip of security forces after Friday's orgy of violence saw marauding mobs torching buildings and police and private vehicles and loot banks and shops. However, spontaneous demonstrations continued elsewhere in China with at least three Tibetan protesters killed in clashes in a Tibetan-populated district of Sichuan province in southwest China, rights groups said.

Officials claimed at least 10 civilians had died, mostly of burns, and 12 security personnel were injured in the violence two days ago. Demanding an international probe into the Chinese crackdown, top Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, accused Beijing of carrying out a "cultural genocide" and claimed that the death toll may be as high as 100. But he said he still supported Beijing's staging of the Olympics in August.

A day after setting a Monday deadline for rioters to surrender or face punishment, Tibetan political and security chiefs vowed to "expose" the Dalai Lama group. "We must wage a people's war to beat splittism and expose and condemn the malicious acts of these hostile forces and expose the hideous face of the Dalai Lama group to the light of day," they were quoted as saying by media after an emergency meeting.

Source : PTI