Concerns for the heath of the Dalai Lama mounted today when the 73-year-old exiled Tibetan leader was admitted to a Bombay hospital for tests after he complained of abdominal discomfort.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who had cancelled two foreign trips yesterday after complaining of fatigue, was said to be cheerful. "An investigation will commence tomorrow morning and there is no cause for concern," a spokesman for the hospital said.

In the months leading to the Beijing Olympics the Dalai Lama kept to an especially gruelling schedule as he met with world leaders to try to build support for the Tibetan cause after a crackdown by Chinese troops in the Himalayan region in March. On Sunday he returned to Dharamsala, the town in northern India where Tibet's self-proclaimed government-in-exile is based, after an 11-day visit to France.

"There is nothing major to feel concerned about," Tenzin Taklha, his personal secretary, said today. "But he has been admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai because he was feeling some discomfort."

Earlier in the day China launched an attack on the Dalai Lama, denouncing his "lies" about Tibet and reiterating that it would not grant the region independence.

The criticisms came after the Dalai Lama told Le Monde, the newspaper, that Chinese troops had fired on protesters in eastern Tibet on August 18, and that 400 people had been killed in the Lhasa since protests against Chinese rule broke out there in March.

The official Chinese state news agency Xinhua, said: "The larger a balloon is blown, the easier it will be to pop. The more shocking the lies, the easier it will be to expose them."

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