Tibetan exile groups say telephone and Internet access has been cut off in an area of western China where a Tibetan monk burned himself to death Monday.

The groups say 29-year-old Tsewang Norbu drank gasoline and poured it over himself after shouting slogans and distributing leaflets calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. He then set himself on fire and died instantly.

China's official Xinhua news agency confirmed that a monk had immolated himself in a region of Sichuan province near Tibet, but did not say why.

The India-based exile groups said soldiers intervened when monks at the Nyitso monastery began to carry the body to the monastery for religious rituals and tried to forcibly take it away.

The French news agency quoted a monk reached by phone inside the monastery Tuesday saying the compound was surrounded by at least 1,000 police. He said about 100 monks are inside the monastery without access to food or water.

The death occurred just 150 kilometers from where another Tibetan monk immolated himself in March.

The London-based exile group Free Tibet says after that incident, Chinese authorities forcibly removed hundreds of monks and set up military roadblocks that still remain in place.