BEIJING, Oct 2 (AFP) - A top Tibetan official has confirmed that monks near Lhasa are undergoing a "patriotic education" campaign against the Dalai Lama.

Raidi, deputy party secretary of Tibet, also said the program in the Ganden, Sera and Drepung monasteries had achieved initial success, according to the September 24 edition of the Tibet Daily, which was received Wednesday in Beijing.

"In order to establish normal religious order among temples and monks, we will carry out patriotic education in monasteries in Tibet for three to five years," he told a meeting of the Tibet Military Region.

"Initial successes in the patriotic education campaign have been achieved in the Sera, Drepung and Ganden monasteries," which are undergoing test campaigns that will then be extended throughout Tibet, he added.

Tibetan officials previously contacted by telephone from Beijing refused to confirm that the campaign was underway.

According to the London-based Tibet Information Network, at least 13 monks have been detained since authorities started their "Loving the Motherland and Loving Religion" campaign in the three monasteries in June.

The move came after China declared an all-out offensive against Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and banned all displays of his photograph, which led to a riot in Ganden monastery.

"The Dalai Clique will not give up despite its failures and it cooperates with hostile western forces aimed at splitting socialist China," Raidi said.

He then gave an indication that the situation in Tibet had worsened by warning there had been a series of bomb attacks and assassination attempts.

"In the name of religion and ethnicity, the Dalai Lama clique has incited illegal religious activities and splittism among ethnic groups and plotted assassinations, explosions and created unstable factors," Raidi said.

"The task for us to defend social stability is more arduous, heavy and complicated," he added.

China sent troops to Tibet in 1951, and the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after an abortive coup.