From: Tibet Information Network, 22 March, 1996

A bomb went off in Lhasa on Monday, the sixth reported explosion in the city in the last nine months, according to unofficial sources. The bomb went off at about 10pm on 18th March outside the Tibet Headquarters of the Communist Party, which is in the sam

e compound as the Regional Government headquarters.

Government and Party officials have been to inspect the site of the bombing, a source told TIN, but there is no information so far about the extent of damage or injury caused by the explosion. Previous bombs have been small, but unconfirmed reports claim

they have led to several injuries or even deaths.

"Life is continuing as normal," said one Tibetan contacted by phone in Lhasa. He and others had stayed indoors when they heard the explosion on Monday night. "No-one went to have a look", he said, according to the Hong Kong based newspaper the South China

Morning Post. Looking at incidents is an offence in Tibet, and two Western tourists were briefly detained by police last July after photographing a monument that had been damaged by a small bomb.

The Party Headquarters is the first clearly political target in the current series of bombs in Tibet. The choice suggests that the bombers have progressed from attacking symbolic targets to hitting key centres of the Chinese administration in Tibet.

The first two bombs of the current series were aimed at a little known Chinese monument dedicated to road constructors, on the western edge of the city last July. In August or early September, around the time of celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary o

f the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, two more bombs were reportedly placed at a fuel depot and at an electricity supply station in western Lhasa, and in January this year a device was detonated in front of the house of the Tibetan lama who led t

he pro-Chinese faction in the dispute over the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. So far no-one has claimed responsibility for any of the explosions, and there is no evidence to show that all the bombings were carried out by the same group. Some Tibetans

even claim that a Chinese faction may have let off the bombs last July.

The Chinese authorities have not confirmed any reports of sabotage and on 29th February a newspaper report denounced a tourist who had claimed to have heard a bomb explode in Lhasa last September. Since January 1995 Chinese newspapers have been warning ag

ainst sabotage by the Dalai Lama's supporters. "The Dalai clique has constantly attempted to carry out sabotage activities [and therefore] the maintenance of stability has become an important task for the Tibetan people", said the Tibet Daily last Decembe

r. On 6th March a Xinhua article for the first time accused the Dalai Lama personally of "sending terrorists to Tibet for sabotages [sic] at the instigation of his Western masters", but gave no further details.

There have been few recent reports from foreign tourists in the area, most of whom seem to have been prevented from visiting Tibet during December and February. Tour companies in Nepal were told that no trips would be accepted during February, and a sourc

e today said there were still very few tourists in the city. At least three bombs were set off by Tibetans during the 20th Anniversary of the Region in 1985, although none detonated effectively. -end-