INDONESIANS REPORT FIGHTING

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25243, 23 July 1947, Page 7

INDONESIANS REPORT FIGHTING

The Jogjakarta radio to-day said that fierce fighting was raging this morning on roads leading from Bandoeng and Buitenzorg towards Sukabumi, in West Java, where large quantities of rubber and other estate products had been set ablaze. Fierce fighting had also occurred on the road to Salatiga, 40 kilometres south of Dutch-held Samarang. The radio said that Puwokerto, between Bandoeng and Jogjakarta, was bombed yesterday, and its railway station machine-gunned from the air. The Jogjakarta radio last night said that Dutch warships off Banjuwangi, in eastern Java, and Republican shore batteries opened fire this morning. The radio also said that Dutch artillery was shelling an Indonesian position south of Bandoeng in West Java. The radio said that Tasikmalaya, southeast of Bandoeng, had been attacked by two Dutch rocket-firing aeroplanes in the afternoon. A Dutch Government communique yesterday announced that Dutch aircraft had attacked airfields in Java and Sumatra. The attacks were launched because fighter aircraft of the Republican Army were held in readiness in these places. Neither the population nor objectives without military importance had been attacked from the air. said the communique. The communique added that no information of any importance could yet

be given about the military operations. It was equally impossible to give the reaction of the Indonesian population. A Dutch Army communique announced that the Republican burgomaster at Padang, West Sumatra, was killed on Sunday by Indonesian troops just beyond the Padang perimeter. The burgomaster, who was named Aziz Dhan, was investigating violations of the truce at Kandis with two officers of the Dutch Army when he was attacked by a gang of six Indonesian soldiers. Dutch officers returned the fire. Aziz Dhan was seriously wounded and died on the way to hospital. The Dutch officers were both slightly wounded. Giving details of the air attacks, the communique said that some squadrons of Mustang fighters took preventive measures against Republican aircraft and ground equipment. At Kalidjati, a Japanese aeroplane was shot at and set on fire and hangars damaged. At Pagigi, near Serang, petrol tanks and workshops were destroyed. During the action, machine-guns, rockets, and some light bombs were used. Mitchell bombers flew a reconnaissance mission to Sumatra. The Indonesian News Agency, Antara, reporting that an Indonesian passenger train was machine-gunned by Dutch aeroplanes yesterday morning, said that the train was the Jogja-karta-Malang express. The attack occurred at Sraden Solo, near Madiun, in East Java.