A home-made bomb thrown at a paramilitary police patrol in Lhasa has hardened Beijing’s resolve to punish anti-Chinese rioters, with officials issuing wanted lists for 17 Tibetans, including two monks and a woman.

The hardline Communist Party secretary of the Buddhist Himalayan region warned officials they faced a “life or death” struggle that involved nothing less than the stability of the entire country as it prepares to play host to the Olympic Games in August.

Anti-Chinese protests flared this week across Tibet and in neighbouring provinces where many Tibetans live. In a remote corner of Gansu province, hundreds of Tibetans on horseback galloped through a town shouting “Come back Dalai Lama” and “Free the Panchen Lama”, before ripping down a Chinese flag and raising a Tibetan snow lion banner.

In Lhasa, where howling Tibetan mobs turned on ethnic Han Chinese and Hui Muslims last Friday in the worst violence in nearly 20 years, a homemade bomb was thrown at a paramilitary vehicle yesterday. Police fired teargas to disperse onlookers and schools were ordered to close early. It was unclear how many people were hurt. Residents said four police were killed or wounded but officials would not comment.

Lhasa Television broadcast three lists of 17 people, including two monks and a woman, wanted in connection with the deadly riots. Those on the list appeared to be ethnic Tibetans. Grainy images blown up from film footage shot during the violence were broadcast yesterday.

One Tibet official explained to The Times why these protestors had been singled out: “There were many other people but these were the ones whose faces could be clearly seen. Others were at an angle or had their backs to the camera.” All were young and most were dressed in ordinary clothes and not Tibetan costume. The list was issued by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau. One person on the list had already been picked up, the Lhasa official said.

A total of 24 people were placed under formal arrest yesterday by the Lhasa Procuratorate Office. Sources close to the Lhasa Government said the number of those detained, although not yet formally arrested, since Saturday had now risen to more than 1,000. At least 156 people had surrendered to police, Tibet Television said.

China says 16 people have been killed. Tibetan exiles put the number at 99.

Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party representative who runs Tibet, is under pressure to restore stability five months before the Olympics. He issued a blistering tirade against the Dalai Lama, the 14th reincarnation of Tibet’s temporal leader, who has lived in exile in India since he fled Lhasa in a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

“We are in the midst of a fierce struggle involving blood and fire, a life and death struggle with the Dalai clique,” he said.

Mr Qingli who has banned government servants from attending religious ceremonies, said the Dalai Lama clique was bent on separating the Tibetan region from Chinese rule and was seeking to use the period before the Olympics to foment unrest.

He said: “The Dalai Lama is a jackal wrapped in a habit, a monster with human face and animal’s heart.”

The exiled leader issued an appeal to world leaders for help in resolving the dispute. The 72-year-old Nobel Peace laureate offered to submit to an investigation by those who suspected him of being involved.

The Pope added his voice to an international chorus of concern about developments in Tibet, urging dialogue to end the suffering of people in the region.

That battle by China to reassert control over its restive Tibetan population has now drawn in students at schools in Beijing. They are required to submit written papers specifying their feelings for the Dalai Lama, providing details of their parents, giving details of their own identity card and guaranteeing not to take part in political activities.

One parent said: “How can they ask children of 17 or 18 to write such a political document. These children can barely even speak Tibetan. Does the government have so little trust in Tibetans that it even requires children to make such an allegiance?”

The demand that students effectively denounce the Dalai Lama, declared an enemy of China yesterday by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, highlights the nervousness among Communist Party authorities at the continued influence the 14th reincarnation of the Ocean of Wisdom still wields among Tibetans.

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