'Kurdistan and the Kurds' [‎47r] (93/122)

Treasury; the telegraph-line between Suleimaniyah and Kirkuk was
also cut.
On the 23rd of May an aerial reconnaissance reported that Suleimaniyah
was full of armed men, who were estimated at 1,500 infantry and 500
mounted troops; the political officers signalled from the roof of their
house to the aviators not to land. Next day a small force was sent to
reconnoitre the road from Kirkuk as far as the Tashlujah pass, some 14 miles
from Suleimaniyah ; it was attacked on the following day by the Kurds
and compelled to retire to Chamchamal. On the 25th an aeroplane on a
reconnaissance near Piradi met with a heavy fusilade, and on the 27th a
Kurdish patrol was observed in occupation of the Bazzan pass, nine miles
north-east of Chamchamal. At the same time the situation became
critical at Halabja, which lies 35 miles south-east of Suleimaniyah, near
the Persian border; on the 26th the Kurds took possession of the town.
On the other hand, several tribes came forward to offer their help to
the British, notably the Jaff and Pishdr.
On the 28th detachments of the 32nd Lancers and the l/5th Bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location.
Surrey Regiment moved out from Kirkuk and occupied a temporary post
at Qara Anjir, about 16 miles west of Chamchamal, on the main road ;
there they were attacked by a force of about 500 enemy horsemen, who
were believed to be under the command of Sheikh Qadir, whose camp was
at Binna, 4 miles west of Chamchamal. The attack was beaten off but
was renewed the next day, when the garrison was relieved by a detach
ment from Kirkuk ; the hostile camp at Binna was bombed with good
effect. The Kurds were known to have suffered considerable losses in their
repulse from Qara Anjir and in the bombitig raid, among the killed being
a nephew of Sheikh Sayyid Muhammad, chief of one of the Jabbari tribes.
On the 3rd of June the troops recovered all the convoy carts which
has been abandoned in a defile six miles east of Qara Anjir ; during the
return they were attacked by a party of more than 300 mounted Kurds
and fought a rearguard action right up to their camp. On the 5th an
aerial squadron bombed the enemy’s camps at Ibrahim Agha, which lies
seven miles north of Qara Anjir, and at Binna. At the same time an aviator
discovered that the Bazzan pass, across which the Kurds had built a stone
wall, was not effectively blocked. News was also received that Mahmud’s
supporters were losing faith in him. On the 7th it was reported that
many of the local tribes had gone home and that others had refused to be
mobilised. Simultaneously another account was received that Mahmud
himself was becoming anxious and that he would be willing to negotiate;
his four machine guns were very short of ammunition and the best officei;
in charge of them had been killed. His forces were stated to have
dwindled to about 400 cavalry and 60 dismounted men, who were
concentrated in the Darband Valley, between the Bazzan and Tashlujah
passes. On the 8th a camp lying to the east of the Bazzan pass and the
troops in the pass itself were bombed with good results, and shortly after-?