China says a Tibetan nun has died after setting herself on fire in southwestern China. It was the 11th such self-immolation protest this year involving Buddhist monks and nuns in the restive region.

The official Xinhua news agency says 35-year-old Qiu Xiang died at a road crossing in Sichuan province. The activist International Campaign for Tibet confirmed the death — saying the nun called for religious freedom and the return of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as she set herself ablaze.

Eight Buddhist monks and two nuns have self-immolated since a young protesting monk died after setting himself on fire in March at the flashpoint Kirti monastery. That death sparked months of protests by monks and nuns and triggered a major Chinese crackdown on area monasteries that included the arrests and disappearances of hundreds of monks.

In Washington Wednesday, the head of the Tibetan government in exile, Lobsang Sangay, urged the United States to press China for access to the region to investigate the incidents and the crackdown.

He also denied Chinese accusations that his exile government has encouraged the self-immolations.

Sangay said the immolations demonstrate the failure of Chinese policies in Tibet, where the Beijing government has spent billions of dollars on infrastructure projects in a bid to win over a sometimes restive population.

He also affirmed that the protesting monks and nuns were acting to demand greater freedom of religion and the return to China of the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India.

Sangay has taken over the political leadership of the Tibetan exile movement from the Dalai Lama, who announced this year that he will restrict himself to his role as a spiritual leader. China denounces the Dalai Lama as a “splittist” who seeks independence for Tibet, though the Dalai Lama denies it.