Landslides slammed into three mountain hamlets in western China early today, killing 17 people and leaving 44 missing, while crews drained an engorged reservoir in another part of the country following heavy rains.

China poured rescue workers and equipment into a mountainous Tibetan region today in a bid to find survivors after earthquakes killed more than 600 people and injured thousands.

A SERIES of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said.

At least 400 people were killed in a series of strong earthquakes that struck a remote area of China today.

The death toll from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit western China rose to around 300 today, with 8,000 people said to have been injured.

HOMEMADE bombs damaged police vehicles in a Tibetan part of western China yesterday, and authorities expanded a security cordon across the region ahead of the 50th anniversary of a failed revolt that sent the Dalai Lama into exile.

China pledged strict security measures to ensure its segment of the Beijing Olympics torch relay will not be marred by protests similar to the one at today’s lighting ceremony in Greece.

China today issued a “most wanted” list of 21 rioters pictured in Lhasa last week. Meanwhile thousands of troops continued to push into Tibetan areas of western China to contain unrest.

Violence spilled over from Tibet into neighbouring provinces today as Tibetans defied a Chinese government crackdown and the Dalai Lama warned that the area faced “cultural genocide” and appealed to the world for help.

China has destroyed 91,100 birds around a farm in Inner Mongolia to stop a bird flu outbreak, the World Health Organisation said today.

China today confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu in its far north-west had killed 460 geese and said the case had been contained.

Bird flu killed more than five times as many migratory birds as previously reported in China’s west in an outbreak of apparently unprecedented scale, an agriculture official said yesterday, but he denied reports of human cases.

More than 1,000 migratory birds have died of bird flu in western China, but no human cases of the disease have been found, the country’s chief veterinary official said today.

Hundreds of people were injured along with widespread property damage after a business dispute sparked clashes between ethnic Tibetans and Chinese Muslims in western China, a US government-financed broadcaster reported today.