NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (AFP) - The Indian police have stepped up security for the Dalai Lama after three of his supporters were murdered near his official residence, a spokesman said Wednesday.

T.C. Tethong, who heads the Dalai Lama's bureau here, said the number of Indian guards assigned to the Tibetan leader had been increased following the killings in the town of Dharamsala on February 4. He did not provide figures.

"Since the incident took place so close to the residence of his holiness, the Indian police have increased the number of their men in the area," Tethong told AFP. "Probably this is a temporary measure."

Tethong, however, said there were no restrictions on the movement of the Dalai Lama, who heads a government-in-exile in Dharamsala, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of New Delhi.

On February 4, a respected Tibetan scholar, Lobsang Gyatso, and two of his students were stabbed to death, allegedly by a group of rival Tibetans in Dharamsala. Gyatso was a staunch supporter of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama is guarded both by Indian and Tibetan guards. Tethong said the Tibetan guards had been increased "a few years back."

India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans, many of whom fled to India along with the Dalai Lama following a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959. Dharamsala, known as "Little Lhasa," hosts about 7,000 Tibetans.