With the remote region under virtual lockdown by Chinese security forces, it was not known what had happened after an overnight deadline for protesters in Tibet to turn themselves in to authorities or face serious consequences.

China blamed Tibetan "mobs" for the deaths of 13 people in violent anti-Chinese rioting on Friday, while Tibetan exile groups have said around 100 people or more were killed as China quashed the protests.

Foreign tourists and journalists have been blocked from entering the region, and even activist groups with long-standing connections in Tibet indicated they were having difficulty finding out what was happening there.

"It is a very, very tense and terrifying situation," Kate Saunders, from the International Campaign for Tibet, an activist group, told AFP. "But it has become much more difficult to get information out."

Premier Wen Jiabao, asked about Tibet in his annual news conference Tuesday, blamed the region's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and said protesters were attempting to spoil China's Olympic showpiece in August.

"They want to undermine the Beijing Olympic Games," Wen said. "We should respect the principles of the Olympics and the Olympic Charter. We should not politicise the Games."

He said China would "consider the possibility" of organising access to Tibet for foreign journalists but did not say when that might happen.

Wen said the situation in Lhasa was returning to normal, and a Chinese resident of the city contacted by AFP reported that some businesses were reopening.

The unrest -- and the virtual sealing off of the region -- has renewed international attention on China's human rights record amid scattered calls from Tibetan activists and campaigners to boycott the Games.

But while many nations have called on China to use restraint in dealing with the protesters, none have said they would boycott the Olympics.

Asked Tuesday whether his country would consider skipping the Games, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura replied: "No." He said events in Tibet were "a domestic issue."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on the Chinese authorities to "avoid further confrontation and violence" in his first public comments since the crackdown.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Beijing to open talks with the Dalai Lama -- who has lashed out at Chinese "cultural genocide" in Tibet but has also stopped short of calling for an Olympics boycott.

But Wen said Beijing would only hold talks with the Dalai Lama if he gives up independence ambitions for his Himalayan homeland -- a vast region more than twice the size of France that makes up about one-eighth of China.

"We have plenty of evidence that proves that these incidents were organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," the premier said at his news conference.

"Claims that the Chinese government is involved in so-called cultural genocide are nothing but lies," he said. The Dalai Lama has denied being behind the unrest.

Tibet has been a flashpoint issue for China's Communist leadership ever since it came to power in 1949.

Communist forces were sent into Tibet in 1950 to "liberate" the region, with its official rule beginning a year later. The Dalai Lama fled to exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Last week's riots targeted Chinese-owned banks and shops, hundreds of which were reportedly set ablaze.

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