An 18-year-old nun set herself on fire in China’s restive southwest and later died, rights groups said yesterday, the latest in a spate of such incidents among ethnic Tibetans protesting Beijing’s rule.

The woman – a member of a Buddhist nunnery in Aba prefecture in China’s Sichuan province, which borders Tibet – set herself alight on Saturday evening, Free Tibet and the International Campaign for Tibet said.

This brings to at least 19 the number of people who have set themselves on fire in the past year in Tibetan-inhabited areas in protest over Chinese rule.

Rights groups say another three Tibetans self-immolated earlier this month in a remote village of Sichuan. However, local authorities quoted in the official Global Times newspaper have denied that account.

The nun from the Mamae nunnery shouted out slogans of protest against the Chinese government before setting herself alight, the rights groups said in statements.

She is believed to have died, London-based Free Tibet said. Her name was given by the groups as Tenzin Choedron, or Choedon.

Soldiers and police quickly took her away, still alive, and later sealed off the nunnery, the groups said.