'Report on the operations carried out in the southern desert in connection with the Iraq-Najd borders, June 1928-May 1929.' [‎8] (10/32)

8
25. The same day two incidents definitely established thJ
presence of at least one hostile band in Kuwait territory. The
first occurred when two cars containing Mr. Crane, a dis
tinguished American Orientalist, his son, and Mr. Bilkert, an
American missionary, were fired on by twelve Akhwan horsemen
in Kuwait territory about midway between Basrah and
Kuwait town. Mr. Bilkert was killed, and the cars turned
back to Basrah.
The second and similar incident befell a British officer at
A1 Abatah (30 miles north of Jahrah), where, at about
1400 hours local time, his car came under the fire of hostile
raiders, who consisted of two parties, one of 40 men on 20 camels
and a much larger one at some distance away. The officer
managed to extricate himself, and returned to Kuwait. Both
of these incidents took place in the same neighbourhood and
about the same time.
26. This information was received too late for any action
to be taken that day. On the 22nd a section of armoured
cars was sent to Safwan before dawn, and air reconnaissances
were carried out along the Traq-Kuwait frontier up to a depth
of 15 miles into Kuwait territory. No signs of any raiders
were seen. The flight of No. 55 (Bomber) Squadron at Sulman
was sent to Busaiyah to stand by for action if required. It
subsequently transpired that a raid had taken place early on
the 21st in the vicinity of Sail Jirfan, about 35 miles south of
Zubair, in Kuwait territory. The victims were all 'Iraqis,
and their casualties amounted to at least 17 killed, in addition
to others wounded. Approximately 4,500 sheep and
500 donkeys were looted. The aggressors were identified as
Ajjman, under the leadership of their chief, Dhaidan ibn
Hithlain, and some of the Jiblan section of the Mutair. Most
reports compute their strength at between two and three
hundred men. Immediately after the attack they made off
due south, through Kuwait territory, and it was then that
they fired on Mr. Crane's party.
27. No reports of the raid were received till the evening of
the 22nd, and then there was no indication as to the route
taken by the raiders in their retreat. Had there been no
restrictions on flying over Kuwait it is most probable that the
raiders would have been found and dealt with on the 21st.
As it happened, sufficiently reliable information to justify
crossing the frontier and exceeding H.B.M. Government's
instructions mentioned in para. 8 was not received until
too late for effective action to be taken. It appears that the
raiders with their loot spent the night of 22nd-23rd January at
Umm Rus. On the 23rd an Armoured Car Section which had