At least 45 Arabs were killed in Friday’s spectacular engagement near Jenin between a British regiment, aided by nine Royal Air Force planes, and an Arab rebel band numbering 500, it was revealed today. British losses in the battle were officially announced as one private killed and three wounded. Reports of more British casualties were denied.
While military operations in the vicinity of Umm-el-Fahm, near Jenin, were continuing, details slowly filtering through revealed the unprecedented magnitude of Friday’s engagement. The entire Jenin area had been cut off for the last fortnight by a military cordon which bottled up the Arab rebels. With the cordon slowly tightening, the Arabs decided on a sudden sortie. The engagement began when the rebels ambushed automobiles en route to Haifa. Soldiers of the Royal Scots Borderers Regiment, who rushed to the scene, were also ambushed.
The major engagement began when the British battle planes flew to the scene of the ambush, located the rebels and raked them with machine gun fire. Sections of the regiment returned to Haifa yesterday with 14 prisoners, 36 captured rifles, 2,000 rounds of ammunition and five Arab corpses. Among the Arab killed was Sheikh Atia Ahmed, notorious terrorist leader, for whom a $2,500 reward had been posted. The prisoners will be tried by the Haifa military court Tuesday.
Two Arabs were found dead today near the Jewish settlement of Tirath Zvi, which was attacked by an Arab band last week. Thirty shots were fired in the southern section of Jerusalem Friday night during a broadcast of an Arabic translation of High Commissioner Sir Harold MacMichael’s speech appealing for peace. A band of 50 Arabs attacked police posts between Acre and Safed, but was driven off by machine gun fire.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
