FIENDISH CRUELTY IN AFGHANISTAN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LVIII, Issue 10213, 25 October 1929, Page 3

FIENDISH CRUELTY IN AFGHANISTAN

MAN BLOWN TO PIECES PROM GUN

PEOPLE SLAIN SECRETLY

London, Oct, 23. Habibullah’ e cruelties are being condemned by meetings of protest at Kabul. It. is now established that Ali Ahmed Jan, Amanullah’s brother-in-law, was blown to pieces j from a gun. Hundreds of people were killed secretly within the cit.adel. Some were dismembered and hanged bead downward, and many were dragged behind fastmoving cars. War prisoners were slaughtered wholesale. Kabul is now anxiously awaiting the return of the patrols which captured Habibullah, the rebel king formerly known as Bacchasakao. He fell into the handg of Nadir Khan’s forces. A British Official Wireless message says that Mr Arthur Henderson, the Foreign Secretary, has sent- the following message to the Afghan Foreign Office at Kabul: “I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your telegrams of October 14 and October 15, and to state that the courtesy and friendliness which prompted their dispatch at a rime which must still be one of great strain and tension are keenly appreciated. I have followed events during the last few days with the closest interest, and I ardently trust that the hopes which a,re now entertained, of peace in a united, friendly, strong and independent Afghanistan, may speedily be realised, and the old friendly relations between two countries continued." The message was sent to the Afghan Foreign Minister under the new regime set, up by Nadir Khan, who captured Kabul from the Emir Habibullah on Sunday week, and who was subsequently proclaimed King. The first of the telegrams to which Mr Henderson replies was dispatched to him from Kabul the_ day after the capture of the city.