HEADLESS CORPSES OF PARATROOPERS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30442, 16 May 1964, Page 13

HEADLESS CORPSES OF PARATROOPERS

Discovery In South Arabian Federation (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ADEN, May 15. The decapitated bodies of Captain Robert Edwards and Sapper John Warburton, who died in batttie with the rebel “red wolves of Radfan,” have been flown to Aden for burial with full military honours. Their bodies were found in rough graves in the Radfan mountains.

Their severed heads were buried just across the Yemen border in Qataba, according to Army Intelligence. The two men, members of the Special Air Service Regiment were killed in a skirmish with tribal rebels in the South Arabian Federation two weeks ago. The bodies were discovered by a patrol of Arab troops of the federal army in Wady Taym, a dry river bed in the hills. They were in shallow graves

within a few hundred yards from where S.A.S. men clashed with rebel tribesmen about 60 miles north of Aden. Earlier this month, Britain was shocked by the grisly report that the men had been beheaded and their heads publicly displayed on sticks in Taiz, twin capital of the Yemen. General John Cubbon, the Middle East forces commander, announced he had received “reliable information” to this effect. The Yemen issued an official denial on the beheadings and the United States State Department said it had been

informed by its Taiz Embassy there was “absolutely no truth in the rumours that the heads had been exhibited there.”

The “Daily Express” said today the report vindicated half the statement made by General Cubbon. The view of the authorities in Aden now was that the beads could not have been transported to Taiz in the time between the men’s deaths and the report of the heads being exhibited. It is now believed the bodies were decapitated by the tribesmen so the heads could be taken back as evidence of casualties inflicted on the British forces. “The Times” said a United States Embassy official in London stressed that the United States had never denied that the servicemen had been decapitated and their heads exhibited.

“The only thing we ever denied was a 8.8. C. broadcast that the heads had been exhibited in Taiz. We could not vouch for anywhere else in the Yemen,” the official said.

The “Daily Telegraph” said the announcement about the bodies was delayed deliberately by the Government after a Cabinet meeting and two sessions of the defence committee. It was felt that an earlier release might have resulted in accusations that the timing was calculated to influence voters in yesterday’s by-elec-tions.

The original report on the beheadings precipitated a storm of questions and accusations in the House of Commons.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home told M.P.s he had issued instructions that such statements by military commanders would not be made in future without being thoroughly checked.