China says 18-year-old Tibetan self-immolates

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese state media said an 18-year-old Tibetan villager has died after setting himself on fire in northwest China.

The short report from the Xinhua news agency did not mention why the villager self-immolated on Saturday afternoon.

Citing provincial government sources, the agency said the incident occurred in front of a monastery in the city of Hezuo in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Gannan.

Dozens of ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire in Tibetan regions over more than a year and a half to protest Chinese rule.