China conceded today that Tibetan protests have spread to Sichaun and Gansu provinces as thousand of troops move into to Lhasa and the last foreign journalists are expelled.

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The Chinese authorities claim that 170 protesters have turned themselves in in Lhasa. China Daily, the English-language mouthpiece of the government, reports on the aftermath of "riots" by Tibetans in Aba county, Sichuan, and five counties in Gansu.

The authorities continue to maintain that the unrest is being directed from outside.

"Judging from all the signs, the destruction was organised and fanned by separatists inside China and abroad to undermine social order," Mao Shengwu, an official in, Gansu said.

James Miles, the only foreign journalist with clearance to be in Lhasa, is now back in Beijing. Speaking to the BBC World Service he said Lhasa was under "virtual martial law". He added: "It is calm because there are so many troops there. I've not seen so many troops on this scale since Tiananmen Square."