File 10/12 Desert news: defeat of Ikhwan by Ibn Sa`ud (Battle of Sibilla, 1929); operations against rebels [‎169r] (344/382)

D.O. Ho.
Office of the Administrative Inspector,
In-charge Southern Desert.
Adhai^a, dated the 12th March, 1929.
Dear
^ Your No. D.O.144/5 of 9th March. I sent for
> y >
Nasir ibn Kubaih on receipt of your letter. He admits having
j\, t* t- ‘ ^' "V taken a rifle, a hafeh and a flint lock from two men, whose
. r names he did not know, but denies the taking of a Lee .unfield
/ /IX -j ■ - . : •» \
from Dhahir ash Shammari. His excuse in the first case is that
the men, whom he did not know, raised their rifles on his
approach, abused him as a kafir and said that they were allies
of the Muslimin, and would shoot him if he approached. An
exchange of abuse ensued, and finally both lost their tempers.
I have told him to bring in the articles which he took
immediately, and I will send them in to Kuwait.
I have received several messages from Bani
Malik raided the other day at^ Kuwait, to the effect that a
considerable part of their property is with Araibdar. They
even say that a number of men of Araibdar were with Ibn Shqair
in his attack, and that three mares belonging to Araibdar were
killed in the action and their bodies are now lying outside
the walls of Kuwait.
However that may be, they are positive in
their assertions that a considerable part of their property
is with Araibdaf. They say that some of them went to see
Araibdar to claim their property, but that the latter drove
them off and threatened to shoot them. If Bani Malik are right
in saying that their property is with Araibdar, it does not
of course follow that they were in the raid. On such occasions,
a lot of sheep and donkeys always scatter and get lost, and
they may merely have rounded these up.
In any case, I should be very grateful if
you could see the Shaikh about it, and arrange for one of his
men, and for the bearer, Muhd al Ataibi, of ours to go with
Bani Malik representatives to see Araibdar and to recover any