Dalai Lama Says Chinese Agents Are Training Tibetan Women To Poison Him

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is charging that Chinese agents are plotting to kill him with the help of Tibetan women.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the 76-year-old Dalai Lama said his aides had learned of Chinese agents training the women to poison him while taking his blessings posing as devotees.

He told the newspaper that his aides could not confirm the plot, but they had expressed concern over his security.

We received some sort of information from Tibet that some Chinese agents training some Tibetans, especially women, you see, using poison -- the hair poisoned, and the scarf poisoned. They were supposed to seek blessings from me, and my hand touch, the report said.

The spiritual leader also said in the interview that he struggled to control sudden outbursts of anger. Advisers, secretaries, other people around me, when they make some little, little mistake, then sometimes I burst. Oh yes! Anger and shout! Oh! And some harsh words. But that remains a few minutes, then finished, he said.

Dalai Lama, the supreme leader of Tibetans in exile, fled China with his disciples and took refuge in India when the Chinese army took control of Lhasa in 1959.

The Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala in India, has maintained its demand for autonomy for Tibet ever since. In the past year, more than 30 Tibetan protesters in China have immolate themselves.

The Dalai Lama will be in London Monday to receive the Templeton Prize at St. Paul's Cathedral.