Chinese officials asked to prepare for 'war' in Tibet

Describing the situation in Tibet as "grave", China has ordered authorities there to prepare themselves for "a war against secessionist sabotage" by the Dalai Lama amid reports that security forces shot dead two Tibetans protesters.

Officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been ordered to recognise the "grave situation" in maintaining stability and to ready themselves for "a war against secessionist sabotage", Chen Quanguo, regional Communist Party chief of Tibet told official Tibet Daily.

The orders come ahead of the February 22 Tibetan New Year and this year's Chinese Communist Party Congress to elect new leaders. The Congress would elect new leaders replacing the President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao who are set to retire later this year.

Chen and other top officials called for extra vigilance to foil any attempts by the Buddhist Monks and supporters of the Dalai Lama pointing out that the Tibetan spiritual leader has a spoken of a "decisive battle" to be launched ahead of this year's Communist Party Congress, likely to be held in November this year.

Meanwhile, US based broadcaster Radio Free Asia today said that two Tibetan brothers, who have been on the run after protesting against Chinese rule have been shot dead. Yeshe Rigsal, a 40-year monk, and his 38-year-old brother, Yeshe Samdrub, had been pursued by the authorities after they participated in January 23 protests against Chinese rule.