IRELAND

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1921, Page 5

IRELAND

AMBUSH AND F.’GHT. TROOPS AND REBELS CLASH. A COLONEL KILLED. By Telegraph,—Press Assn —Copyright. London, March 6. Official.—A party of 35 military was ambushed between Killarney and Buttevante. Four soldiers were killed including two officers. The fighting continues. It is unofficially reported that an unnamed General is amongst the killed. The Killarney party consisted of six motor lorries, .preceded by an armored car. On reaching the Clonbanim Road they found trenches dug and obstacles erected, compelling the troops to dismount. They were immediately subjected to a devastating fire from all directions, killing General Simmons and five others. The fight raged fiercely for some hours. The armored car eventually reached Kanturk, returning with doctors and reinforcements. On the latter’s arrival the Sinn Ferners, who numbered 500, under cover of the darkness withdrew from the ambush to the hills. Their casualties are unknown. Th© wounded were removed to Buttevant military hospital.—Aug. and N.Z. Cable Assn. THE OFFICIAL REPORT. London, March 6. Official.—Colonel-Commandant Cumming, commanding the Kerry Infantry Brigade, not General Simmons, was killed in the Bubtevant ambush. The total casualties were: Two officers killed and two other ranks, wounded. Colonel Cumming, escorted by three tenders with parties of (East Lancashires and an armored car, was going to Buttevant, when heavy fire was opened from high gorse-covered ground on both sides of the road. The driver was severely wounded and the leading tender thrown into the ditch. The troops left the car and went into action. A car trying to pass also fell into the ditch. Colonel Cumming was shot in the head and died instantly. An hour-long fight followed until a party from Head took the rebels in the rear and the rebels fled. Few of the ambushes were seen, but they were armed with rifles and greatly outnumbered the troops. Mines were laid on the road but did not explode. Colonel Cumming was president of the Court of Inquiry at Mallow, which was investigating the shooting of railwaymen. BOMB OUTRAGES. London, March 6. Another ambush i$ reported near Dublin on Sunday morning. The Sinn Feiners organised a desperate attack on three motor-ears containing Irish constabulary on the lonely Malahide-Dublin Road. The attackers flung six bombs, of which one entered the second car, killing the driver and another occupant. The other cars escaped with one man shot in the leg. A little later a military lorry was passing Frederick Street, Dublin, when a big explosion apparently due to a bomb, occurred under a tramcar. The soldiers in the lorry, suspecting an attack opened fire andj several people were wounded, nine seriously, the worst being the conductor, who was shot in the leg.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.