Elusive Ipi

Toughest spot in His Britannic Majesty's Indian Empire is barren, mountainous Waziristan, a 10,000-sq. mi. strip of northwest Indian territory lying against the border of Afghanistan. Its fierce tribes have never submitted to British rule. There last week, as they have been doing for two years, grousing British Army officers and sweating troops scrambled over unfriendly mountains on the trail of an elusive, red-bearded, turbaned firebrand, Mirza Ali Khan, the Fakir of Ipi.

The 37-year-old Fakir, a strapping six-footer who takes his name from the Waziristan village of Ipi, once worked as a Peshawar porter and in Britain's Indian Civil Service. Then he became a religious fanatic, went to live in the Waziristan hills. Two years ago he gathered the tribesmen about him, began a revolt against Britain. Time & again scouting British airplanes have located the Fakir's hideouts and British troops have rushed to capture him. Each time he got away, has left behind a total of some 200 British officers and men killed, hundreds wounded.

Last week the British learned that the Fakir had made his headquarters in a hillside cave. Bombers roared ahead and the British troops closed in. The Fakir and his tribesmen took up positions behind boulder barricades and for two days beat back British attacks. One British captain, six soldiers were killed before the Fakir and his followers had fled again.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.