There had been no news of his safety or whereabouts since he left Lhasa on 17 March with an entourage of 20 men, including six Cabinet ministers.

Many thought he had been killed in the fierce Chinese crackdown that followed the Tibetan uprising earlier this month...

In the worst single incident, four days ago, the Chinese army fired about 800 artillery shells into the Dalai Lama's Summer Palace, razing the ancient building to the ground.

The area contained over 300 houses, and thousands of civilians died and were injured in the inferno...

The tragedy marked the end of the uprising in Lhasa. All fighting-age men who had survived the revolt were deported, and those fleeing the scene reported that Chinese troops burned corpses in the city for 12 hours.

Labels: China, Tibet