DEAD OR ALIVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1937, Page 7

DEAD OR ALIVE.

RAS DESTA WANTED.

Italian Revenge for Recent

Bomb Outrage.

600 ETHIOPIANS SLAIN?

United Press Association.—Copyright

(Received 12 noon.) ROME, February 24. It is believed that 600 Abyssinians, including 300 who were executed as a reprisal, have been killed for being found in possession of arms following the attempt on the life of the Viceroy, Marshal Graziani. A further 1000 are being held for questioning. Martial law has been proclaimed in Addis Ababa district and troops have been ordered to bring in Ras Desta dead or alive. Two hundred of the natives were killed when the Fascists "cleaned up" Addis Ababa, and 100 were slaughtered when, in the confusion after the bombing, the Italians fired into the crowd.

Marshal Graziani's condition may be worse than was disclosed.

Corrado Zoli, formerly Governor of Eritrea, is of the opinion that two chiefs, Beine Merid and Gabre Mariam, had joined forces to march on Addis Ababa with the support of Ras Desta but were defeated by the Italian columns, Ras Desta escaping wounded. The captors brought back Beine Merid to the battlefield and shot him after he had identified Gabre Mariam's body. The men who threw the bombs were emissaries of Ras Desta. They struck prematurely, believing that Ras Desta's arrival was imminent, whereas he was still two days' journey from the capital. They hurled ten grenades before they fell.