Further Fighting at R.A F. Base

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 108, 8 May 1941, Page 7

Further Fighting at R.A F. Base

STRONG REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, May 6. Apart from the official British communique, which record further fighting at Habbanivah air base , where the Iraqi positions have again been bombed, the only news from Iraq is from a German source, which says that the Iraqi High Command has told its troops to use their ammunition very sparingly as no new supplies are available. The latest news received in London from Iraq states that the Hababaniyah aerodrome is still held by the British forces. A Cairo message says it is reliably reported that British troops from Basra have reinforced the Habbaniyah garrison. Throughout yesterday, says to-day’r Middle East communique, aircraft of the R.A.F. maintained constant patrols over the Iraqi positions outside the Rabbaniyah R.A.F. station. Motor transport and personnel were bombed, and several direct hits were registered on gun positions. The results of the shelling of the R.A.F. station and of a little machine-gun fire were negligible. Iraq military positions were bombed at Diwaniya, and many direct hits were obtained on barracks and administrative buildings. Motor transport at Falluja also was hit. To-day’s Britk’i General Headquarters at Cairo says: “In Habbaniyah area, our aircraft were again active yesterday. Hostile shelling was intermittent and innacurate. In the Basra area, the situation remains quiet” Reuters repccts that the Empire air-mail service between Australia and the United Kingdom has bee temporarily partly uspemled owing to the situation in Iraq. The Berlin radio says that the Iraq Government announces that £ has rejected a proposal of mediation by a neutral country. Iraq is willing to negotiate only after the British have left Iraq. Anti-British tendencies in Syria, Berlin adds, are growing daily. The local population are collecting money for Iraq. The British police have forbidden the population of Palestine to listen to the Iraq radio.