DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN.

Patea Mail, 31 July 1880, Page 3

DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN.

British Force Routed. REINFORCEMENTS FROM ENGLAND. {Special Despatches to the Mail.) Calcutta, Thursday. Details have come to hand of a disaster near Candahar. General Burrows’s brigade, numbering three thousand, were attacked by Ayoub Khan’s force, numbering twelve thousand. The British lost two guns, being outnumbered, and fled. They were pursued for three miles by Afghans, and the remnant of the force reached Candahar in straggling driblets. They took refuge with General Primrose’s force of 2,000 in the citadel. The enemy cut the telegraph wires in order to prevent the British from obtaining reinforcements. General Phayre and General Suncleraan are now concentrating their forces in the Bolan pass. LATER PARTICULARS. Calcutta, Thursday Evening. Farther details of the engagement between Ayoub Khan’s army and Burrows’s brigade, near Candahar, prove that the first accounts of the disaster were greatly exaggerated. General Burrows and the chief officers of his force have ‘ readied the citadel of Candahar in safety. No details arc yet received as to the extent of the loss sustained by the British. CABUL TO BE OCCUPIED. Calcutta, Thursday Night. It is reported from Afghanistan that in consequence of the hostile attitude of Ayoub Khan’s adherents at Ghuznee, the evacuation of Cabnl by British troops will probably now bo deferred. CABINET COUNCIL in LONDON. REINFORCEMENTS ORDERED. London, Thursday. The disaster to the British troops at Candahar caused a great sensation here ; and it is stated that at a Cabinet Council held yesterday, it was decided to despatch further troops to India as reinforcements for Afghanistan.