A senior official of Tibet said Tuesday the "Tibetan genocide" by which the Dalai Lama and his secessionist group claimed more than 1 million Tibetans had been killed in the past 50 years was merely fabrication and vilification.

The population of Tibet increased from 1.2 million in 1959 to 2.87 million in 2008, and the 50 years was a period during which the population there grew the most fast in the past several centuries, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet regional government on Tuesday.

Of the total population, Tibetans and people from other ethnic minorities account for more than 95 percent, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2009)