The force sent to punish the Ogaden Somalis in Jubaland
for the murder of Mr. Jenner, the British Sub-Commissioner, has met with serious resistance at Sannasa, about sixty miles from Aff Madu. The British troops, under Colonel Tetuan, numbering five hundred strong, had advanced one hundred and fourteen miles through the enemy's country when they were attacked on February 16th at the edge of the Boran Desert. Colonel Ternan had halted his men and formed square, and the Somalis, who tried to rush the camp, actually succeeded in breaking through at one corner. In ten minutes they were repulsed with a loss of one hundred and fifty men, but the British loss was relatively severe, Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland and seventeen native rank-and-file being killed and Dr. Mann and twenty native rank-and-file wounded. The British force has since returned to Aff Mack. It is further stated that a second punitive expedition, composed of Indian troops and Somalis, is shortly to be despatched from Berbera against the "Mad Mullah," who has been for some time past raiding the country along the Anglo-Abyssinian boundary. It is curious to reflect that two years ago this engagement would have created the greatest excitement. Now, owing to an experience, useful if bitter, we see military matters in truer proportion.
