premise: As a result of these deaths, Prime Minister Antonio Maura increased the Spanish garrison at Melilla from 5,000 men to 22,000 in preparation for an offensive. All the Spanish forces involved were conscripts; at this stage, Spain had neither professional troops, nor indigenous troops under arms. The Spanish army was poorly trained and equipped and lacked basic maps. The next day, the Spanish troops were shot at by francs-tireurs and skirmishes occurred near Melilla. General Marina decided to post six companies at Ait Aixa, under command of Colonel Álvarez Cabrera. They left Melilla at nightfall but got lost and, in the morning, found themselves in the Alfer Canyon, where they were decimated by gunfire from the heights. Colonel Cabrera and 26 men were killed, and 230 were wounded. On 26 June, the Spanish suffered a second defeat at the Lobo Canyon, when Marina sent another force under General Pintos to protect Segunda Caseta. In this ambush, the Rifians killed General Pintos and 153 men, and wounded some 600 others.
hypothesis: 27 men died if colonel cabrera and 26 men were killed