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Beijing: At least 80 people have died in the ongoing violence in Tibet following protests against Chinese rule, a report on BBC’s website said on Sunday.
Officials based in India said many sources have confirmed the figure, despite China putting the official death toll at 10.
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has expressed “grave concerns” that the figures will rise if China doesn’t change its policies, the BBC has said.
He added that the reports of a death toll of close to hundred have been reported, though they cannot be confirmed and called for an investigation on whether “cultural genocide” was taking place in Tibet or not.
However, he stressed that the Beijing Olympics should continue, saying that the Chinese people deserve to host the games.
Police and troops locked down the capital of Tibet on Sunday as tension remained high, two days after ugly street protests broke out.
"We don't dare go out, not for anything. There's too much trouble," said a Tibetan businesswoman by telephone from Lhasa, a city out of bounds to foreign journalists without official permission.
She said the streets were teeming with armed police in riot gear on Sunday after word of renewed clashes the previous night, when Hui Muslim Chinese attacked Tibetans in revenge for wrecked homes and property.
"The Tibetans were starting to fight back but then the troops stepped in and restored order," she said.
Like other residents contacted, she spoke only briefly and anonymously out of fear of punishment in a city that last week saw the most serious rioting and shooting in nearly two decades.
China has said at least 10 "innocent civilians" died, mostly in fires lit by rioters. On Sunday the official Xinhua news agency said 12 policemen had also been seriously injured.
The convulsion of Tibetan anger at the Chinese presence in the region came after days of peaceful protests by monks and was a sharp blow to Beijing's preparations for the Olympic Games in August, when China wants to showcase prosperity and unity.
China has declared a "people's war" of security and propaganda against support for the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, underlining that it will not heed calls from around the globe for a lenient response to the riots.
"The protesters were barbarous and violent," Xinhua quoted a tourist surnamed Dong as saying. "They ganged up on the young police officers and beat innocent people."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday voiced strong concern over the authorities' response to the protests.
"I am concerned that the violence appears to be continuing. I also am concerned by reports of a sharply increased police and military presence in and around Lhasa," she said in a statement released in Washington.
European nations and Australia have also urged China to find a peaceful outcome, and Japan has expressed concern.
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