CONFIDEN TI AL
Cypher/Cat A
PRIORITY HONG KONG TO COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
TOP COF
elegram No. 1346
CONFIDENTIAL
4 September, 1967
442
RECEIVED IN
(D.T ARCHIVES No. 63
- 5 SEP1967
HWAI/17
Addressed to Commonwealth Office telegram No. 1346
of 4 September,
Repeated for information to Peking, POLAD Singapore, Washing ton and Canberra.
Situation Report.
The marked increase in genuine bomb incidents on Sunday, 3 September resulted in the death of one fire service officer and wounding of 25 people including three Gurkha soldiers, two police officers and four firemen. There were in all 18 bombs of which 11 were successfully dealt with. In addition a police inspector was attacked while off duty, severely stabbed and his revolver and ammunition stolen.
2.
The most serious incident in the urban areas was outside a fire station in Wanchai where a bomb exploded as police were trying to deal with it, killing a fire service officer and wounding twelve others including his wife, four firemen and two police officers. All, save the police officer, were spectators which underlines one of the problems that Security Forces have in dealing with incidents of this nature. Shortly after, two more bombs were detonated in the same area when a car and a tram ran over them. While the police were dealing with these a bomb was dropped or thrown at them. search was made of a nearby building and two suspects arrested. In Kowloon a child set off a bomb injuring himself and nine others. Some 15 minutes earlier disposal teams had dealt with a bomb in the same district. Later a bomb was thrown at a police party dealing with a suspected bomb.
3。
On the frontier at Sha Tau Kok at 0645 on
A
3 September a light was shone into the Gurkha 0.P. in the Fish Cooperative Building in San Lau Street. This street is parallel to the border from which it is separated by a Nullah. Those in the post cannot see the area immediately below ito An explosive device was lobbed in wounding one sergeant and two riflemen. The C.C.A. had been unusually active during the previous hours probably because an illegal immigrant had succeeded in crossing into British territory the previous night. (Two others are believed to have been arrested in Chinese territory.) Nonetheless, the impression is that the C.C. A. were taken by surprise by this incident and the indications are that those responsible were recalcitrants in exile from British territory.
4.
Food from China. Although vegetable supplies are steadily improving, there has been another sharp drop in imports of pigs. The indications are that available sources in Kwangtung are becoming exhausted and that stocks are piling up in other provinces but cannot get through because of the general disruption of communications.
CONFIDENTIAL
/C.0.
PAD
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