The advocacy group, Free Tibet, said in a statement that rumors were circulating in the region, known as Aba or Ngagba in Tibetan, that “many more people were prepared to give up their lives in protest.”
The latest self-immolations reported by the group brought to seven the number of such attempts by Tibetans in China’s Sichuan Province since March. All but one of the earlier acts of self-immolation were by monks from the Kirti Monastery, a restive religious institution that was at the heart of anti-China protests in 2008.
Free Tibet said the two teenagers, identified as Choepel, 19, and Khayang, 18, set themselves on fire at midday. The group said Choepel died at the scene and that Khayang’s condition was unknown.
The group said the two, who both were wearing layman’s clothing at the time, were believed to have been former monks at the Kirti Monastery. It said Choepel was expelled in March, after the first self-immolation there, for reasons unclear. The group said it was also unclear why Khayang had left Kirti, but that his uncle was one of at least 20 people killed in the 2008 riots and crackdown by Chinese forces.
Free Tibet did not specify the precise sources of its information, and there was no word about the self-immolations in the state-run Chinese media.
The group, which is based in London, seeks to publicize what it regards as China’s violent suppression of Tibetan autonomy. The group has become a conduit for news about acts of political protest by Tibetans in Tibet, the former Himalayan kingdom that China regards as part of its territory, and in adjoining Chinese provinces populated by ethnic Tibetans.
Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet, said in a statement that Tibetans were sharing news of the self-immolations in online chat rooms and through word of mouth, despite the risk of severe penalties by local Chinese authorities who forbid the distribution of such information.
“Tibetans are determined that these acts do not go unnoticed,” she said.
Tibet’s political status is a sensitive issue in China, which has occupied Tibet since the 1950s and considers Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, a subversive “splittist” agitator. The Dalai Lama, a Nobel laureate, has said he does not advocate Tibetan independence, but his enormous popularity among Tibetans infuriates Beijing.
