British military police "Redcaps" fought a gun battle yesterday with Egyptian Police firing from
behind trees and pillars in Port Said . One Egyptian policeman was killed and another wounded
says BUP (American). There were no British casualties. The Redcaps were investigating earlier
attacks on two Army Road Convoys, when the Egyptians opened fire. Troops of the Cheshire
Regiment were in one of the Attacked Convoys. Acid bombs were flung at them. There were no
casualties.

Another Egyptian was killed when Egyptian Police and Terrorists attacked a British Army
building also, in Port Said. There were no British casualties.

The British at the time were evacuating the Building under the Plan to clear the Cities, of Port Said
Ismalia, and Suez of British Troops.

Today in the Desert we peeled off the Kid gloves which we have been wearing until now in our dealings with the Egyptians here in the Canal zone.

At last our almost limitless patience has been exhausted by civil and police treachery and the murder of British Servicemen. For nearly 24 hrs the local population has been expecting a show of Brtiish strength.They had been warned and the force would be met with force.. But they could not have anticipated anything like this. It has shocked them in to utter silence and submission - for the time being.

Now a Brigade of Red devils - The 16th Independent parachute Brigade - is in possition among the maze of streets on the Western outskirts of the Town, where earlier this week, gun battles were fought and British servicemen were killed and wounded. Rifles, Bren guns, heavy Trench Mortars and Vickers machine guns point menacingly from the flat rooftops over the hushed streets . British tanks and radio cars are on the outskirts ready for any eventuality.

RAF Auster reconn planes and jet fighters are swinging low over the buildings. Royal Engineers with armoured and other Bulldozers are battering down whole blocks of houses. some solid and others mud huts and an elaborate of three stories. Some were dynamited. It was from these buildings , until this morning the homes of 1500 people that British vehicles were sniped at and bombs thrown, and in them now before they are pounded to rubble, are found spent and live ammunition and unexploded bombs and grenades. Doubtless to take more British lives. The necessity for holding it is painfiully clear.

On it a great part of the Garrison camped out in the Desert largely depends for a water supply. So serious has the position become during the past few chaotic days that last night the British military hospital in Suez ran completely out of drinking water. For several days during which it has been safe to approach the isolated plant only in armoured vehicles the local commanders have tried to persuade the Egyptian Governor of Suez and the local police to clear the area and agree on establishing a safe entry route for British vehicles.

It is no use hiding the fact that British soldiers in the area, infuriated by terrorist attacks,to which they have been allowed to reply only with "MINIMUM FORCE" and wearied by long weeks of waiting behind barbed wire out among the Sand dunes cheered the news.

It is no use pretending that they did not go in this morning spoilingt for a fight or that they are not bitterly disappointed to-night at the absence of even token resistance. They are not Warmongers these, by any stretch of the imagination, but they don't like having to take it all the time without the chance of dishing it out. They are only human. and so by night down the desert road thundered the parachute brigade and all its ancillary units Centurian and Sherman Tanks armoured and other bulldozers the radio cars and the vast mobile chranes and the rest.

As dawn came up over the bay of Suez the sandy plain outside the town was a glorious sight. From the sheer looming mass of the Ataqa mountains on the one side in a shallow arc around to the green ribbon of date palms along the Suez Canal on the other, there were British Soldiers and their sandy yellow painted vehicles.

Behind us were encamped another 2,000 or so men of the Buffs and Royal Sussex. Soon after 5.30 we moved off . A solitary RAF Auster circulating above the buildings was the only sign of life ahead of us. As the Bull dozers and tanks moved in ahead of us to demolish the buildings and Engineers to put a bailey bridge across the Canal I went further into the town and watched operations from the roof of a high building. But of resistance of the promised force to meet our force there was no sign.

Perhaps a paratroop major had the right idea Looking around him at the bristling firearms he said. "They say the Egyptian terrorists are opportunists, and if I were an Egyprian terrorist, this certainly would not be my idea of a good opportunity"

Sister Anthony, teacher of little chyildren, who was shot dead in the convent of St Vincent de Paul here, was murdered by Egyptian thugs who afterwards ran along a corridor shouting in Arabic, "We've got the daughter of a dog"

At the height of a day-long battle with British Troops, yesterday the thugs broke into the convent to use it as a vantage point. In the basement nuns and children were singing for hours to drown the noise of battle.

The mother superior told me tonight "I think a terrorist has been looking for Sister Anthony, because everyone knew how much she had done for the British for many years". From my talks with the nuns it seems clear that the Egyptians shouted their own guilt before the murder. Shortly before four o'clock they were running around shouting "Its time we got her" Round about four o'clock when Sister Anthony was dead, they heard the cry "The job is done" A British Communique says that after breaking in the thugs went to the front of the convent which overlooks a British Point on a bridge over the Sweet-water Canal. It adds Sister Anthony seeing the thugs about to use this as a vantage point for throwing bombs on to the bridge, came forward and expostulated with them in an effort to stop them. She was shot by one of the thugs while she was performing this mission of mercy. "There were eye-witnesses to the murder", One of them overheard a thug say "Shoot the
woman down"

Tonight as Sister anthony, 52, American born, lay clasping a rosary, nuns told me that , when the trouble started yesterday, Sister Anthony rang the British Garrison saying "For God sake send us help". Thugs they said, heard the call and menaced three of the nuns with their revolvers, warning them, "We don't want to harm you but to fight the British". Ten minutes later British tanks were heard at the bridge just opposite the convent. It was then that Sister Anthony uttered her last known words "What luck, here they are" and rushed to the door. I was told that two thugs entered through the back door of the convent and shouted "Are you Sister Anthony?" and when she said "Yes" they shot her.

Sister Anthony is to be buried in the British Garrison Cemetery on Tuesday. A British Army Bugler will sound the Last post. Mr Johnson the US Consul said the murder was certain to have important repercussions . He will make a report on his investigation to the US Embassy in Cairo.

During the war Sister Anthony was teaching in London at the mother house of the order of St Vincent de Paul at Mill Hill and also at the orders school in Blandford St West 1.

In one cemetery a good woman murdered by a thug, was buried with great honour today. In another cemetary less than a mile away, British troops continue to unearth ammunition that was stolen from British military dumps with intent to murder.

The woman - an American nun, Sister Anthony- was lowered into her grave in the British Military Cemetery, by six Warrant Officers. Buglers sounded the Last post. General Sir George Erskine saluted. Gathered around her grave were men and women of every denomination. Among the many wreaths was one with the simplest inscription of all:

Earlier at the Muslim cemetery I had been watching Egyptians oozing sweat and tears as they carried cases of heavy ammunition from tombs to British 3 Ton trucks.

" We found 50 Tons of heavy Ammo in this desecrated ground- and since the Egyptians put it there , we thought it reasonable that they should carry it away"

Approaching the cemetery I passed huge groups of rounded-up suspects sitting sullenly in the streets. At the cemetery gate the most recent thug to fall into Paratroop hands stood face to the wall, a bayonet one foot behind his back.

To find out what is happening to the British Lads and Lassies in Egypt, "The weekly News" phoned Fayid, our Land forces HQ, in the Centre of the Canal Zone.

There we spoke to 23 - year- old Kathleen Robinson, whose home is at 321 Chapel lane, Lincoln. Kathleen is a Clerk with NAAFI. "Tell them not to worry at home" She said. "We had a nasty 24 hours when things looked like getting out of hand, But once we knew what we were up against, and measures were taken to meet the situation, everything was soon under control"

Kathleen was in one of the worst trouble-spots of all. She works with the NAAFI FoodStore in Ismailia, which was looted and set on fire by rioters at the very start of the trouble. When "The Weekly News" talked to her she was visiting Fayid for a few days "break".

Thirty British women and children were in the food store when the rioters broke in, shouting and pushing the British to one side. The ringleaders beckoned other looters in from the streets, and the British women and children took refuge in the back rooms of the building. For nearly an hour they huddled there while rioters helped themselves to 30,000 pounds worth of goods.

Then the looters set fire to the building, smoke was pouring from it when the First Btn the Lancashire Fusiliers raced up "As soon as our troops arrived you couldn't see the Egyptians for dust", said Kathleen " We have had to requisition an Egyptian school and it is from there that I am now helping serve the British families in Ismailia. I am going back there tomorrow" "I always hoped to find excitement and it certainly has come my way" "But now that the lads have been put on alert we are confident that they will be able to cope with anything that comes along"

Violence flared again in Egypt yesterday after 3 days' lull and at least 7 British troops were killed.

In addition a Major and another soldier are missing, believed killed, in attacks by "Liberation Army" thugs and Egyptian Police . The attacks occurred on the outskirts of Suez Town. Most of the casualties were suffered in an ambush. Reinforcements of Royal Sussex and Buffs were rushed to the scene where the bodies of four Egyptians, three of them police-, were found. The British took 25 prisoners, including a policeman. Sniping was still going on in Suez last night. British troops were out in force, and fully manned Bren-gun carriers were stationed at all key points.

The first clash occurred when 20 Royal Engineers were fired on by hidden terrorists while they were moving a petrol point from the outskirts of Sueza into the Canal Zone perimiter. They did not return the fire as they could not see their assailants. About 50 "Trigger-happy Egyptian Poice arrived in a lorry and joined in the attack on the British, who returned the fire. The fighting took place at a railway level crossing. The Egyptians also used Petrol Bombs and Grenades and a British soldier was wounded. British Armoured cars and a Company of the 1st Bn Royal Sussex Regiment were rushed to the scene at breakneck speed. Firing ceased three hours after it began and the Royal Engineers were evacuated from the petrol point in carriers.

A platoon of the 1st Bn the Buffs with four medium machine guns, joined the men of the Royal Sussex deployed around the level crossing. Lt Col J.F Connolly Commanding the Buffs was pinned down by renewed firing when he went to visit his guard. Meanwhile the Assistant Provost Marshal for Suez was returning from the British Consulate with an escort of Military Police when he heard the firing He stopped his car to speak to an Egyptian police Officer, said a British communique.One Egyptian policeman deliberately shot a Royal military Police Corporal in the back. The Corporal died in hospital. The third and worst incident of the day came when terrorists ambushed two British Army vehicles near Suez. They attacked the little convoy with Rifle fire and incendiary bombs and killed six privates of the Mauritian Pioneer Corps. In addition a British Major and a soldier of the Royal Engineers are missing presumed killed. When the units Commanding Officer went to the scene last night he found the remains of two burnt-out vehicles.

General Sir George Erskine British GOC said last night. "This seems more serious than than the last attack by Egyptian Police. Then they were panic stricken, undisciplined and lost their nerve" "Today they made a deliberate attack." "I had believed this gangsterism was almost at an end, but now we shall have to deal severely with this outbreak"

An Egyptian Mob last night poured automatic fire into a darkened military hospital in a new terror campaign of shooting and violence against Brtiain, reports Reuter. British sentries alert for the "Terror day" promised in "Skull and Crossbones posters" drove the snipers from the hospital with rapid fire. Bullets ripped into the hospital compound and buildings at El Ballah. But
no-one was hurt.

The "Daughters of the Nile" the Egyptian Womens movement, whose members have just received their first lesson on how to use arms, will take part in big "Liberation Day" marches on Wednesday in Cairo and Alexandria, cables David Walker. Police are standing by.

Egypts "Libedration Army" which launched its first "Large-scale " attack against the British Army in the Canal Zone over the week-end, struck again.

They killed an officer of the Cameron Highlanders, and a soldier when they ambushed a patrol. Men of the Grenadier Guards were rushed to the Cameron's aid. A British commumunique said five terrorists were killed. The sustained gun battles , the increasingly business-like tactics of the "Liberation Army" are gradually transforming the situation into something mush nearer open warfare.

The fanatical spirit of the "Liberators" was shown today when they tried to shoot Brigadier W L Steele, commander of the First Guards Brigade, defending the Tel el Kebir military depot. Brigadier Steele was visiting the roadblock on the edge of the depot, where men of the Cameron Highlanders were holding up all Egyptian cars and buses using the Cairo-Suez Canal Road and checking whether they contained Egyptian "Liberation" men. Large numbers of British troops and armoured vehicles were concentreated at this spot and Brigadxier Steele was closely guarded. Yet a young Egyptian jumped from a bus and fired at him with a Baretta pistol. the bradiers escort immediately shot the Egyptian dead. Brigadier Steele was uninjured.
D.M. reporter and agencies

Britain accused Egypt last night of "deliberately murdering" British Troops. A strongly worded note delivered in Cairo said soldiers killed last week lost their lives as a result of terrorist attack and not by indiscriminate shootings as suggested by the Egyptians.

According to the note five officers and one other rank died. One other rank disappeared and three were wounded. "It appears to be clear" it goes on "that the principal responsibility must lie with the Egyptian Authorities for their orders to police to use force in protecting the Egyptian population, who were clearly never endangered by the actions of the British troops". "The Egyptian Police fired indiscriminately on all British personnel and vehicles, including ambulances.

Tonight I am able to tell for the first time the story of heroism and horror that lies behind the death of two British Officers and the dramatic escape for three British women and three small children. It is a story that for six days has gone unheralded as just another "incident" to quote the Army. It was Sunday afternoon in Ismailia. The sun shone hotly through the eucalyptus trees fringing the broad avenues. A British Major and his wife and two boys aged nine and seven, were sitting in their flat in a troubled quarter of the city entertaining their neighbours. Flying officer and Mrs Henry Snelling, their son David and Mrs Henry Clegg wife of a captain in the RASC who was busy in camp . It seemed quiet outside . The women and children had been kept indoors for almost two weeks because of the rioting, so they all decided to go for a quiet stroll - to do some shopping and collect some English Newspapers, they thought some other neighbours might have. Major Wharton, a Major in the RASC, an officer with a gallant record and two Belgian and one French Croix de Guerre among his decorations took with him a Sten gun secured to his waist with a new dog chain specially bought to prevent his weapon from being snatched from him. Flying Officer Snelling a belt with a fully loaded automatic pistol and spare ammunition. The others went as they were. The women wore light summer frocks and the sun-bronzed children khaki shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

As they stepped from their doorway a British loudspeaker van passed by announcing "The town is in bounds. Families may enter the shopping areas." They were chatting and laughing together as they went, when close at hand came the sound of rifle-fire. Quickly the two officers shepherded the party up a side-turning, and immediately bullets sang about their heads. They crouched down beneath a wall. Plaster fell as bullets dug into masonry a foot or two above them. The Major saw that the fire was coming from the Egyptian Police station, and that the one hope of safety was to cross the fire-swept street to a pile of building stones that lay there. Mercifully, it seemed that the police could not lower their aim for the moment, so while the two officers bravely tried to attract the attention of the Egyptians - Snelling hopefully shouting "Pack it up, stop firing"- Mary Wharton as starter in a race with death. First she sent off her two children, Michael and John, and David Snelling. They scampered like rabbits across the roadway, with bullets kicking up the dust about them. The women heard above the gunfure the sound of wild laughter, from the sniping policemen. Then it was their own turn. They to rushed across under fire and reached the comparative safety of the stone-heap. After them came the two men. Mary Wharton, slight and dark-haired, has said since that as they came running they heard a thud and a gasp. She thought at the time that one of them must have been hit, but they both seemed all right, and it was not the time for inquiries. Now the bullets were whining all around them, and the main danger they discovered was the ricochets from the buildings behind, somehow they must cross the wide pavement to the doorway of a house which they knew was occupied by a Frenchman. Again Mary Wharton prepared to shepherd the party across, but this time the danger was greater, because this time the police seemed to be using shotguns too. Again the children went first, again as they scampered there was the wild laughter from the Police station. Now the two officers were putting up covering fire in the hope of making the attackers keep their heads down, at least for a moment or two. The women too, dashed for safety. Standing trembling in the doorway, they waited for thr officers, but at this point the firing seemed to increase, they withdrew to the back of the house.

After a while there was quiet. They dared at last to peep through some shutters at the front. They could see one side of the pile of stones , but not the spot where they had hidden. They called quietly but there was no reply. All night the women and children waited and wondered there in the Frenchman's house, lying on the floor to avoid the possibility of being hit by a shot through the windows. Once there was a tap on the shutters, and an English voice outside. They opened the windows to find a Major who told them it seemed safe for them to try to get back to their homes if they wished. As they spoke a bullet passed between their faces. All night as armoured cars and other Army and RAF patrols rumbled past outside, the weary shaken children cried at intervals and asked time, after time, "where is Daddy", why doesn't Daddy come? For sixteen hours it was like that, almost demented women trying to put a brave face on it and comfort terror-stricken children Then there was a knock on the door- a heavily armed patrol had arrived to take them back to their homes But still there was no news of their husbands. That came later in the day when Lt Col Ronald Menage. Major Wharton's Commanding Officer came to tell them. The two officers had been found riddled with bullets and badly battered some distance from the heap of stones. Their medal ribons had been torn off , and the weapons that had saved the lives of the women and children were missing. Apparently their bodies had beenragged along the street to be photographed by the Egyptians for propaganda purposes. That then is the story behing one Canal Zone incident" Now two young widows and three small fatherless children are in Britain. Mrs Joan Snelling whose home is in Essex and David were flown home by the RAF on Wednesday. Mrs Wharton and her children arrived here today. Grief-stricken though they are, they should be very very proud as every European out there will be when these facts behind an "incident" are known.

At 9am on Saturday a member of a patrol from the Queens own Cameron Highlanders trod on a mine which ahd been placed on the railway track about half a mile East of Tel el Kebir Railway Station. He was seriously wounded by the explosion and two other soldiers were injured. A British train had to stop because of damage to the line, and immediately came under fire from many directions. This continued in spite of automatic fire from British posts. The train withdrew undamaged. A Company of Coldstream Guards and men of a Field battery arrived from Tel el Kebir Garrison and searched the area of the station. At 11.30 our troops crossed the Sweet-water Canal supported by a troop of Cromwell tanks, and were fired at from El Hammada village and the Egyptian Hospital. During the afternoon the clearing of El Hammada was undertaken. A British Sergeant was killed in the action.

We retrieved the bodies of seven terrorists, while it is believed that four other members were killed and fifteen wounded. We captured 32 men including five students from Faud el Awal University. Five rifles, teo Stens, and a quantity of grenades were recovered during the search.

At 11.15 am yesterday a patrol of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, accompanied by an Officer of the Royal Engineers was carrying out a road reconnissance a thousand yards south of the Tel el Kebir road block, when fire was suddenly opened on it from several directions. An officer of the Camerons and an other rank were killed. Carriers of the Guards brigade went to the assistance of the patrol, which withdrew to the roadblock. Fire from the Carriers caused some casualties amongst the terrorists, as they covered the withdrawal, the roadblock then came under fire. Shortly later an Egyptian jumped out of a bus which was stopped at the roadblock and opened fire at the troops manning the post. they killed him.

The Egyptian Press contains quite Farcial stories of Saturdays incident at Tel el Kebir. British casualties which were 1 Officer, one NCO and one other rank killed, and three other ranks wounded, were estimeted by the Egyptian Press as 120. Its Editorial says "Thousand of soldiers armed to the teeth hundreds of tanks and armoured cars, dozens of .field guns and an incalculable number of weapons of destruction were used against the village of Tel el Kebir. The Egyptian people armed only with faith and confidence in the justice of their causes inflicted on the British heavier losses than they sustained in any battle during the last war, except at Dunkirk. The Cairo Newspapers also contain a completely untrue report that the British authorities have executed seven of the terrorists captured at Tel el kebir by shooting them and have mutilated the bodies by throwing them to the dogs.

Troops of the East Lancashire Regiment cordoned off and searched two villages about three and a half miles east of Abu Sueir on Saturday morning. No Arms or ammunition were found, but there were a goodly number of empty cartridge cases. All the male inhabitants were interrogated by security field personnel and three suspects were detained. The search was concluded without incdident by 10.30 am.

At first light on Sunday an RAF aircraft flew low over Hussein Abdulla village and warned inhabitants by loud-hailer that the village woulf be cordoned off and searched. The search which was carried out by troops of the 2nd Bn parachuts Regt was completed without incident by 9.30 am

Ismailia spenta very disturbed Sunday night. Firing started just before nine o'clock and continued until after midnight in several areas. The RAF Station at Ismailia, the Sweet-water C anal bridges, Hibbert house, The Queen's Gate, Moascar and the Nefeisha Filtration plant all were targets. It appeared that the outbreaks of fiting at these different points similtaneously were organised and co-ordinated. British guards and patrols returned the fire with smallarms and heavier weapons. We suffered no casualties.

The British Empire Medal has been awarded to Lance-Bombardier Benjamin Gorvan, RA, who is serving in the Canal Zone. The citation says that Lance Bombardier Gorvan was in charge of a party from the 42st Field Regiment RA, at Tel El Kebir, repairing a perimiter wire. marking the outer limits of a minefield. The mine field had been laid to secure Ammunition stores from raiding Terrorists. During this work a grenade exploded killing one soldier, and seriously injuring Gorvan and a labourer. Gorvan organised the 9 mile trip of his party back to camp, (across rough desert) making the others as comfortable as possible. He made his report as calmly as possible before requesting medical attention for himself. "Throughout this incident he displayed remarkable selfless courage and determination and his conduct set an outstanding example of devotion to duty."

There was a lous explosion South of , No ! Signal Box South of Suez early on Thursday Morning. This was followed by automatic and rifle fire, directed at the Signal Box and the Filtration Plant from the Marshalling Yard area. The guards returned the fire.

More details are now available about the search of El Hammada and Tel El Kabir Villages. The Egyptians had suddenly increased the police (normally about 10) to four Officers and 117 Policemen. on orders from the Egyptian Minister of the Interior. Theey were brought in to oppose the searching troops. The policed opened fire on the troops. General Abdulla Raouf , Inspector General of Police Admin surrendered with the policemen. During the action taken against police five Egyptians were killed and 5 suspected terrorists arrested. One British soldier sustained non life-threatening wounds. 155 rifles, two stens, three pisstols, and several boxes of ammunition were conlfiscated.

Truths. A Valetta, equipped with a loudhailer flew over El Hammada Village on Wednesday morning explainiing the raid to the villagers,..it was the only transport plane to do this. After the warning six Meteor Jets flew over as a warning, after this occurred and later flew over the area in pairs on Recce flights. None fired and are not equipped with bombs Untruths. "Al Misri" reported that 60 jets flew over and straffed and bombed unspecified targets endangering civilian lives and property "A barage of bombs fell on the houses and police buildings"

It is evident that the Egyptians are growing sceptical about distorted stories published in the Egyptian press. A Cairo Newspaper recently published these readers feelings and requested that reports be written with a sense of responsibility and proportion. They also stated that it was not we who reported the killing of an English soldier by a four year old child with a Sten gun, or the death of Brigadier Exham.

On Thursday the British Ambassador to Egypt sent a strongly worded note to the Egyptian Minisstry of Foreign Affairs "Al Misri's " offer of rewards to terrorists who kill British Officers. The British Note drew attention to Article 172 of the Penal Code which provides severe penalties for those inciting to murder, and Article 198 which provides for the confiscation of
newspapers containing such incitement.

British Troops went into action today after an officer and a private had been killed and another soldier wounded in three separate ambushes on the main Road from Ismailia to Cairo. In the Last skirmish a convoy of vehicles was being held up by firing from a number of villages across the Sweet-water Canal, when general Sir George Erskine Ordered immediate and determinedd counter-measures. First the Royal Dragoons Armoured cars pumped two-pounder shells into the Es Kayard Village area for an hour. Then a Company of the lancashire Fusiliers, one of the finest units in the Canal Zone paddled across in assualt boats for a house to house search of the ramshackle village. Five Egyptians were detained. The ground around the village was littered with empty sten-gun Cartridges magazines and 303 cartridge cases. There had been firing for hours but by the afternoon all was calm; the road was opened and convoys moved up and down the roads escorted by armoured cars.

A british Army goods train from Adabeya Docks was derailed four miles from Sueg early yesterday morning by a mine explosion. No casualties were given by British sources , but Egyptian Authorities stated that 4 British servicemen were killed. In further sniping in the Ismailia area, Sgt Brook of the Military Police was taken to the military hospital with wounds.

The Egyptians have started a terror campaign against Cypriots brought into the Canal Zone lto work for the British Warnings appeared on Walls in port Said today telling the Cypriots "Go Home, all you will find here is death and terror" Terrorists letters have also been circulated amongst the Mautitian pioneer Troops in the Zone. At Fayid shots were fired into the Olympia Stadium and In Suez a bomb was thrown at a military car.

Egyptian Thugs today claimed their first British victims of the new Year. They killed a Major and a private Soldier in two artfully planned ambushes. Today ambushes were laid on a road known as terror alley. The road running parallel to the Sweetwater Canal , leads frrom Ismailia and passes through Abu Seuir and a series of villages of Brown mud huts and houses with faded cream facades. This road is essential to British Military traffic as it leads to the large Military Depot at Tel el Kebir. Two groups of terrorists about four miles apart dug themselves in amongst the sand dunes behind the canal overlooking the road.

Two British Convoys travelling in the same direction came abreast of the ambush positions and were met with bursts of Automatic and rifle fire. Bullets whipped into the trucks and the British major and Private were killed , and another soldier wounded.