Tibetan protester who self-immolated in Nepal dies

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A Tibetan man who set himself on fire in Nepal's capital in the latest in a string of self-immolations protesting China's rule over Tibet has died at a hospital, police said Thursday.

The man died Wednesday night, hours after he self-immolated, police spokesman Keshav Adhikari said. Police are still trying to identify the man, who appeared to be about 21 years old, and no one has claimed the body yet, he said.

Nepalese authorities have stepped up patrols and surveillance in areas of Katmandu where Tibetan refugees live to try to stop such protests from taking place again, Adhikari said. Dozens of police officers in riot gear guarded Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital, where the man died.

The man doused himself with gasoline, set himself ablaze and chanted anti-China slogans as he ran down a street near the Boudhanath stupa in the northeastern outskirts of Katmandu.