DHAKA: A Tibetan monk has set himself on fire in an act of protest in China, reports and campaign groups said on Tuesday, as top Communist Party leaders hold a key gathering.

Tsering Gyal, 20, set himself alight on Monday in Guolou, a Tibetan area of Qinghai province in southwestern China, according to the US-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is funded by the US government.

Police extinguished the flames and took Gyal to hospital, they said, adding that his condition was unknown. Another rights group, British-based Free Tibet, said he had survived, reports The Straits Times.

An image posted online by ICT showed what appeared to be a man in flames in the middle of a road, with a group of more than a dozen people watching from several metres away.

BDST: 1410 HRS, NOV 12, 2013
RoR/BSK