18 July 2007
Gun battle in Kardze reportedly leaves 6 dead
(AP) A gun battle between Tibetan groups allegedly feuding over access to lucrative caterpillar fungus (Tib: Yartsa Gunbu, Botanical name: cordyceps sinensis) has left up to six people dead and more than 110 injured in Kardze (Chin: Ganzi), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP). About 500 ethnic Tibetans from neighbouring townships had converged on Dabpa (Chin: Daocheng) county government demanding that the border between them be clearly demarcated, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ICHRD) reported. The group claim that the lack of a clear border had led to escalating clashes over access to areas where the fungus, which is a mainstay of the local economy, occurs. County officials made no move to intervene and fighting broke out between the two groups during which several men from Dabpa township drew rifles and allegedly threw hand grenades, killing six from Sumdo township, the group said. An officer who was contacted at Dabpa police headquarters said investigators were still trying to determine the number of casualties. ICHRD said local Tibetan leaders were holding the county government partly responsible for the clashes because it failed on repeated occasions to meet calls to settle the border dispute peaceably.