• The pregnant wife of a Tibetan teenager who died after being shot and detained by police following a peaceful protest in Kham has committed suicide, according to Tibetan sources in exile.
  • Reports are emerging that a Chinese police officer also died after being accidentally shot by troops when they opened fire on a crowd of unarmed Tibetans protesting the detention of Shugba village leader Wangdak.
  • There is now a total of seven known deaths following the shooting in Sershul, Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) on August 12. Four Tibetans died of untreated wounds in custody, while a Tibetan named by sources as Lo Palsang from Shugba village, who had been wounded in the demonstration, committed suicide in custody.
  • Wangdak’s maternal aunt, named by exile Tibetan sources as 64-year old Dawa Lhamo, was so severely tortured in Sershul (Chinese: Shiqu) county detention center that she has been hospitalized, with family prevented from visiting her.

Eighteen-year old Jinpa Tharchin was one of the Tibetans who died after their wounds were left untreated, compounded by torture in detention. On August 18, Jinpa Tharchin’s wife, who was seven months pregnant, committed suicide by hanging herself.

While it could not be fully confirmed, the same Tibetan sources reported that a Chinese People’s Armed Police officer had been shot. It is not known whether he died on the scene or afterwards from his injuries. The sources said that he had been shot in the neck and that it appeared to be an accident. There has been no mention of any such deaths in the Chinese state media, as far as can be ascertained.

No information is known about the whereabouts of village leader Wangdak, whose detention sparked the peaceful demonstration on August 12 (ICT report, Ten Tibetans injured after police open fire in Kardze, Tibet). A Tibetan in exile who has spoken to a number of sources said: “No one knows whether he is alive or dead.”

Wangdak’s maternal aunt, named by exile Tibetan sources as 64-year old Dawa Lhamo, was so severely tortured in Sershul (Chinese: Shiqu) county detention center that she is now immobile and unable to speak, according to the same sources. She has been hospitalized and her family prevented from seeing her.

No further information is known about the welfare and whereabouts of a number of Tibetan males over the age of 12 or 13 who were detained from their homes in the village of Shugba after the incident, leaving only older people, women and young children in many houses in the area, according to the same sources. (ICT report, Tibetans with wounds after shooting denied medical treatment: deployment of military leads to mass detentions in village in Kham).