Reports: China arrests monks for Tibet blast

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China has arrested nine Tibetan Buddhist monks who it says bombed a government building in Tibet, state media reported.

The monks were part of a monastery in the Himalayan town of Gyanbe where the bombing was carried out on March 23, Xinhua said.

In recent days, China has ratcheted up its claims that a "clique" loyal to exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is behind the violence in Tibet.

China has accused Tibetans of planning suicide attacks to sabotage the summer Olympic Games as part of their campaign to push for independence.

The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, has spoken out against violence and denied fomenting the unrest.

The Xinhua report on the monks' arrests said the men used a homemade bomb, then ran away from the scene. It did not say whether the explosion resulted in casualties or damages. The report also did not say why the blast had not been reported earlier.

The Chinese government has drawn international criticism for its crackdown last month on demonstrations to coincide with the 49th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising.

The protests, which began peacefully but turned violent, have thrown a shadow over the Olympics, being staged in Beijing in August.

Tibet's self-proclaimed government-in-exile puts the death toll from those protests at more than 100, but Chinese government restrictions make it difficult to confirm that number. Chinese authorities have reported a death toll of 19, and say most of those killed were "innocent victims." E-mail to a friend