The Chinese government says two men had been arrested on suspicion of organizing the mass suicide attempt by alleged followers of the banned Falungong movement on Beijing's Tiananmen Square last month.
Xinhua news agency says they and another man who was badly burned in the January 23 suicide attempt and is still in hospital, are suspected of directly organizing the self-immolation.
Out of the five who managed to douse themselves with petrol and set themselves on fire on January 23, a 36-year-old woman died of her injuries.
Others, including the woman's 12-year-old daughter, survived with severe burns injuries.
The government has unleashed a fierce propaganda campaign against the Falungong in the wake of the suicide attempt.
The government has seized upon the incident as evidence Falungong is an evil cult and used it to gain public support for its often brutal crackdown on the sect, which was banned in July 1999.