China says three Falungong died in mass suicide attempt

China said Thursday that three members of the Falungong spiritual movement died and eight others survived after a mass suicide bid at a labour camp in the northeastern city of Harbin.

The suicide attempt took place on June 21 at the Wanjia reeducation center in the Heilongjiang provincial capital when 11 female practitioners tried to hang themselves with bed sheets, the foreign ministry said.

"This is another tragedy involving obsessed Falungong practitioners under the control of (Falungong founder) Li Hongzhi," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at the ministry's regular briefing.
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Zhang's remark came in response to reports that as many as 14 members of the banned group died in the suicide attempt.

The Falungong movement in New York has denied any of its members committed suicide and has accused guards at the camp of torturing 15 practitioners to death.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, the suicide attempt came after the camp authorities extended the practitioners' detention in response to a hunger strike.
Zhang denied any abuse of detained Falungong members.
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The issue of alleged Falungong suicides has become a major issue in the propaganda war between China and the movement, which was banned as an "evil cult" in July 1999.
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