BEIJING: At least eight people were killed in conflict at a monastery in southwestern China, the International Campaign for Tibet said.

According to the organization armed police fired on a crowd of locals and monks after some monks at the Tongkor monastery in Donggu township, an ethnically Tibetan area of western Sichuan province, were detained by police following a search for images of the Dalai Lama.

China`s state-run news agency said on Friday that "an official was attacked and seriously wounded in a riot," adding that "local officials exercised restraint" but did not give more details on the incident.

"Police were forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence, since local officials and people were in great danger," new agency said in its English-language report.

Chinese language media did not carry news of the incident.

The widespread unrest began in Lhasa, the capital of neighboring Tibet province, and there officials on Friday vowed quick trials for those behind the unrest.

China says 19 people died in the Lhasa violence but representatives of the Dalai Lama say some 140 people died in the unrest across Tibet and nearby areas.