REBELS IN AFGHANISTAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20136, 22 December 1928, Page 13

REBELS IN AFGHANISTAN.

STRONG POST OCCUPIED.

KABUL REPORTED QUIET.

CITY NOT YET RELIEVED.

Australian and N.Z. Press Association. DELHI. Dee. 20

News received from Kabul by plane says strong rebel forces from the norlb are noaring the city, but there are no disturbances in tho capital itself.

The rebels have established themselves between Jalalabad and Kabul in a strong position, which has prevented reinforcements from reaching Kabul. Armed bandits, led by a notorious brigand, Bachasakao, have caused disturbances near the capital. The Jalalabad region is unsafe, owing to the bands of marauding tribesmen. Tho Afghan relief forces are proceeding to Kabul. PLANE BEINGS NEWS. WARNING NOT TO LAND. BRITISH LEGATION SAFE. British Wireless. RUGBY, Dec. 20. A' message which was displayed on a white stripe set out on the lawn of the British Legation at Kabul, reading "Fly high, do not land, all well," was read by the pilot of a Royal Air Force plane which flew over the Legation.

The warning not to land was probably dictated by the fact that the rebels in tho neighbourhood were mostly people who had been recently bombed by Afghan planes, and as they were unlikely to differentiate between one machine and another, would be likely to open five on any machine within range. Earlier information received by telegraph from the Legation stated that the insurgents had notified the British Minister, Sir Francis Humphreys, that they had no desire whatever to interfere with the Legation. Sir Francis talked with them at the gates of the Legation, and warned them to respect all the Legations, as their foreign occupants were the guests of Afghanistan. The British ladies in Kabul are Lady Humphreys, Mrs. Gould and her two children, Mrs. Stranger and one child, and Miss Pulford.